US President Donald Trump is pushing for stricter measures against the manufacturing and exportation of fentanyl, advocating for severe penalties in China, possibly including the death penalty. During a signing of anti-drug legislation, Trump linked the issue to tariffs imposed on several countries. The opioid crisis, primarily driven by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, has raised national concern. Despite links between tariffs and drug trafficking, experts question whether harsh penalties will effectively combat the distribution of fentanyl, while overdose deaths show signs of decline, providing some hope for recovery.
I think we're going to work it out so that China is going to end up going from that to giving the death penalty to the people that create this fentanyl and send it into our country, Trump said. I believe that's going to happen soon.
China has long imposed severe penalties on people involved with drug distribution, including capital punishment, and has been at the centre of Trump's ire over the opioid that helped fuel an overdose epidemic in the US.
Experts have questioned whether such penalties will help address the distribution of fentanyl, which China has said is driven largely by demand from people in the US.
Overdose deaths have started to drop in recent years, giving experts cause for optimism after years of communities being ravaged by opioids.
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