China set to join US in opioid crisis

In recent years, illicit drugs such as fentanyl have killed hundreds of thousands of people and caused suffering to millions more around the world.

As a physician, I have treated people poisoned by these drugs in half a dozen states over the past 25 years. While clandestinely produced drugs such as fentanyl almost never leave China in their final form, the chemical precursors of these drugs are often imported by criminals from China into Mexico, where deadly synthetic drugs are produced and smuggled to countries around the world, including the United States.