How does fentanyl get into the US?

Regardless of this, the commerce in different chemical compounds concerned within the manufacturing of fentanyl – a few of which may have authentic functions – stay uncontrolled, as these concerned within the commerce discover new methods to evade the regulation.

A overview of a number of US indictments, which embody particulars of undercover brokers speaking with Chinese language producers, means that some chemical corporations in China have been promoting chemical compounds – together with managed ones – within the information that they’re meant to make fentanyl.

Dozens of indictments reviewed by BBC Confirm element situations the place Chinese language producers have offered directions on methods to make fentanyl from merchandise they promote, by way of encrypted platforms and cryptocurrency funds.

“So you have got these huge loopholes the place criminals interact in promoting authorized merchandise, however they knowingly promote them to prison entities,” says Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow in international coverage on the Brookings Institute.

In an announcement, China stated it had a few of the strictest medicine legal guidelines on this planet and had carried out joint operations with the US up to now.

“The US must view and clear up its personal fentanyl situation,” it stated.

And whereas China stays the principle supply of the chemical compounds used to make fentanyl, the DEA has additionally recognized India as an rising main supply, exterior for these chemical compounds.

In a US indictment from January 2025, two chemical corporations in India have been charged with supplying the chemical compounds used to make fentanyl to the US and Mexico.