The Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on six individuals and seven entities based in China, as well as two individuals and one entity based in Mexico, for their involvement in the sale of pill presses and other equipment used to falsely label illegally manufactured pills, often laced with fentanyl, and smuggled into the United States.

Drug Enforcement Agency staff test for fentanyl painkiller at a laboratory in New York, US. Photo: VNA

“Counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl are a leading cause of these deaths, devastating thousands of American families each year,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson. “We are committed to mobilizing all relevant agencies to fight those who facilitate the illicit production of these drugs to disrupt this deadly global production and combat the threat these drugs pose.”

Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine and is increasingly mixed with other illicit drugs, often with deadly results. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overdose deaths in the US involving the synthetic painkiller fentanyl more than tripled between 2016 and 2021. The Biden administration has stepped up action as the US overdose death toll surpasses 100,000 in 2021.

VNA