Legal Change in Status of the Opioid Fentanyl

For John, BLUF:  Recognition by the manufacturer of fentanyl that it is (or should be) a controlled substance is a step in the right direction.  However, social conditions must also improve for this epidemic to subside.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Xi Tells Trump China Will Schedule Fentanyl

Here is the sub-headline:

China, world's fentanyl source, to finally control drug

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Reporter Charles Fain Lehman, 3 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

China will finally add fentanyl and its analogs to its list of controlled substances, following a Saturday meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump.

"President Xi, in a wonderful humanitarian gesture, has agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China's maximum penalty under the law," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced in a Saturday night statement.

The agreement came as the two leaders joined other representatives of the G20 nations in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the organization's annual summit.  The two had aimed to broker a deal end their respective countries' escalating trade war.  The scheduling of fentanyl was part of a package deal, offered by Xi to stop Trump from raising tariffs on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

The questioni is, can the US Government, working with the new Mexican Administration, parley this into a way of controlling the widespread, and illegal, distribution of fentanyl, which is killing a lot of Americans.

The current path of the drug is from China to Mexico and then up into the United States.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff