Fentanyl is killing more people than anything else. And it's coming from China. Could China be getting payback for the Opium Wars that the westerners put them through? 

Synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, which has emerged as the most dangerous illegal narcotic in the nation, were implicated in two-thirds of overdose deaths last year in the US. Fentanyl has affected every region and demographic group in the nation, setting a 

 for drug-related mortality in America in just a few short years.

In comparison to morphine, fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is 50–100 times more 

Not just opiate addicts, but also users of cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, black-market adderall, and other drugs are 

Fentanyl is currently a widely available and inexpensive illicit drug. It was first created to fill a need for greater painkillers and was used in hospitals for procedures. It is widely used to produce counterfeit copies of other commonly consumed prescription medications or to stretch or strengthen stocks of other illicit substances.

 of the United States, our nation surpassed 100,000 overdoses in a 12-month period. 

Of those 100,000 overdose fatalities reported from April 2020 to April 2021, over 64,000 deaths were due to fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Disturbingly, fentanyl has quickly and quietly become the leading cause of death among adults ages 18-45.

 Between April 2020 to April 2021, fentanyl claimed 40,010 lives — resulting in almost twice as many deaths in the 18-45 age range as COVID-19 (21,335), cancer (17,114), car accidents (22,442), and suicide (21,678) respectively.

But the problem does not seem to be a simple drug that can be banned. Even if you ban it, here are already worse drugs coming around. One is a group of synthetic opioids known as nitazenes, which researchers say can be up to 10 times stronger than fentanyl is already popping up. 

Mexico does not really produce it, China 

China is the primary source of fentanyl in the world. 

So it's not just the United States and Mexico, it's also China that we need to talk about. 

Compared with heroin, it is more potent, has higher profit margins, and because it is compact, has simpler logistics, it can be cut into or even replace entirely supply of heroin and other opiates. 

What is important to understand about fentanyl's rise as a drug? 

Firstly, there was a prescription opiate epidemic in the United States that's still out there, but the worst part kind of petered out. 

And then there was also marijuana legalization happening at the same time period, which people thought would hit the cartels in their pockets and be a death blow to these criminal groups. 

So the marijuana fields in Mexico turned into poppy fields once again. But most of these lands didn't have the proper nutrients for poppy (opium), and they're not as good as Afghanistan. 

So, marihuana is out of the picture (it's legal) and opiates are booming. The problem is they can't make them strong enough. So they add fentanyl and keep making money, and actually spend less making the drugs!

And not only that, but they also started figuring out how to get fentanyl into Mexico. Because Mexico didn't have the know-how or ingredients to finish producing fentanyl. But China does. 

So, the fentanyl drug route begins with the Chinese Communist Party?

One aspect to it that people kind of miss is that there's no Chinese cartel, there's no criminal Chinese organization working unseen, getting around government oversight in China. I don't know of any such organization. 

It seems that anything that could be labeled as a criminal organization is deeply integrated with the government. I've never heard of a giant criminal enterprise in China operating while fighting against the government. 

So we have to assume, then, that some of these things are happening with the know how and inaction of the government out there. 

Well, when COVID hit, there was no shortage of fentanyl in the Mexican areas that have access to the seaside ports. 

So, even during the shutdown, they were getting supplied. Which means, to me at least, that the supply chain was not cut, so whatever was coming out of China, was being let out of China by whatever official channels would be able to shut down or stop it. 

I would love to know the organizational structure of China, how they enable it, because I can't imagine at the very top there's a portfolio of things and one of them is to ship fentanyl. 

I think it's more inaction and hands off. 

We can do everything we want. We can even go to war with China over this issue. 

But what is our past record in this area? 

The DEA helped kill Pablo Escobar. Right. But since then, there's more cocaine coming out of Colombia than there ever was before. 

El Chapo was arrested and tried. That did nothing to stop the drugs coming into the US or the Mexican cartels. 

And there's every indication that if we do get China to stop, since around 90% or more of the illicit fentanyl comes from China, that the industry is going to go to India. 

And India is already starting to see these huge 

. Like, there's these Mexican cartel members getting busted in India.  

The thing is, China and India have the two biggest chemical industries when it comes to generics, kind of lower level chemicals and pharmaceuticals. 

The US has the most profitable pharmaceutical industry by making the brand name drugs. But when you're talking about generics like vitamin C, Tylenol etc... these are all made in China or India. 

And so they have this huge kind of talented chemists. People go to university, they learn how to be chemists, and then a certain amount of them get into the illicit industry. 

And Mexico doesn't have that. Mexico doesn't have its own chemical industry or a bunch of scientists who can make fentanyl, who can make these new drugs. 

So that makes India so susceptible to it. And the biggest problem is actually not even the fentanyl itself. It's the fentanyl 

 The chemicals that are used to make fentanyl

Most come from a Chinese company that makes more fentanyl precursors than any company in the world. And not only that, they sell them to the Mexican cartels. And they're totally not only sanctioned by the Chinese government, but they get tax breaks from the Chinese government. They get subsidies, they get their land subsidized, their staff training, things like that. 

And that was sort of the most jaw dropping revelation that I had, was that the Chinese government is not only failing to crack down, but they're encouraging this industry. 

A lot of people may ask if this is a blatant conspiracy to try to inflict harm upon the US. Like a subversive form of warfare. 

And I think it didn't start out that way. I think that these benefits were given so that China could increase its exports, could grow its economy, particularly when it comes to chemical exports. 

So that's why these tax credits started. They're called value added tax rebates. And so what that means is any chemical that you use, any ingredients you use to make a chemical for exports, you can write off the cost of those ingredients when you export it. So basically, it's like a 16% tax rebate. 

Taking down the big bosses won't do much. Another one will prop up. Sanctions against a country won't help, the production will move to another country. 

Money. The drug kingpins make money, the companies make money and the governments grow their economies and farma industries. 

The idea is to reduce the amount of money that can be made from fentanyl. Going back to the root problem and asking: 

Why people even consume drugs in the first place? 

Why did the US have such a huge opiate crisis that continues to this day? 

Fentanyl crisis in the US: Ties with China, India & Mexico

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