News

U.S. Sanctions Eight Companies in China and Mexico over Counterfeit Xanax

• By Newsdesk
• U.S.A
• Jun 01, 2023

News

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on seven Chinese and one Mexican companies, as well as nine of their representatives, for their roles in fueling the country's opioid crisis. According to Reuters, the organisations on the list were found to be selling pill-compressing machines and other equipment used to fake brand labels on illegally manufactured fentanyl pills (such as Xanax).

The agency accused the sanctioned organisations of facilitating the production of fake fentanyl pills. "We will not miss any opportunity to stop the activities of illicit drug producers in order to put a stop to this deadly global production," said Brian Nelson, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

According to the US government, the number of drug overdose deaths in the US will exceed 100,000 by 2021. Fentanyl pills, which are 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, were responsible for a significant number of deaths. According to Reuters, fentanyl is increasingly being mixed with other illegal substances, resulting in death.

The imposition of sanctions against the companies, according to Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, will "create further obstacles to China-US cooperation in the field of drug control." He believes that by doing so, Washington is attempting to shift blame for the rising death rate away from drugs, rather than working to reduce demand and regulate prescription drugs.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, a U.S. pharmacy chain, was previously fined for "15 years of failure" to properly review opioid prescriptions.