Fentanyl Profits While Governments Trade Blame -By Fransiscus Nanga Roka

Fentanyl crisis is a very clear example of how globalization has failed us. Chemicals, money, and criminal opportunities can travel across borders much quicker than responsibility.

Washington prosecutes suppliers, but Beijing denies these charges. While Mexico fights the cartels that are a direct result of the supply chain, the families of victims continue to suffer because of the gap between the three countries’ laws.

The enforcement campaign is based on a real event. On June 2023, the U.S. Justice Department filed charges against four China-based chemical companies as well as eight employees/executives from those companies. On October of 2023, the U.S. Justice Department stated that there were eight more indictments filed against chemical companies and individuals who were suspected of providing chemicals used to manufacture illegal drugs. The charges being made are criminal allegations that require evidence to prove them guilty and not collective guilt attached to China’s chemical industry.

The Justice Department says that suppliers sent chemical precursors to Mexico. There, organizations such as the Sinaloa cartel and CJNG used these chemicals to make fentanyl that was then distributed throughout the U.S. Prosecutors have stated that the suppliers created fake shipping documents; concealed the contents of their parcels; and paid for shipments with cryptocurrency to make it difficult to trace transactions. This type of business model takes advantage of the geographic separation of a sale of a product at one end (upstream) and the death of a person at the other end (downstream).

Accuracy is more important than using rhetorical exaggerations. The claim that fentanyl kills over 70,000 Americans each year must not become a static data point. In 2024, the CDC’s final reporting showed 47,735 fatalities due to synthetic opioids other than methadone. This was a wider classification than just fentanyl. Provisional data on overdose deaths for 2025, published in May 2026, indicated a total of 69,973 overdose deaths. This represents nearly a 14% decrease. Although there has been significant progress made toward reducing the number of deaths from overdoses, it would be premature to say we have won this battle.

Financial sanctions may increase expenses and restrict access to goods. In October 2023, the Treasury Department sanctioned 28 individuals and entities involved with illicit drug networks. However, although freezing property located in the United States and prohibiting certain transactions will limit the ability of foreign factories to produce goods for sale in the U.S., it will not cause these factories to be shut down. Nor will it prevent other companies from becoming alternative sources of supply. The sanctioning process is an intervention, rather than an outcome.

The danger of being strategically misguided is that we may confuse using diplomatic sanctions with protecting the public. A formal charge cannot change the fact that someone has died from an overdose. A treatment program cannot hold a supplier accountable for supplying drugs to the user. To be effective, governments must use both of these approaches, and continue to use them past the next political confrontation.

First, Washington, Beijing and Mexico City need to form an ongoing way to report on precursor activity, preserve evidence and conduct joint investigations. Regardless of trade and security disputes, investigators must have access to accurate information, set deadlines and hold their investigative partners accountable.

Secondly, chemical regulatory bodies must use export controls in conjunction with vetting potential buyers, reviewing the true owners of products, and identifying uses that are improbable. They need to differentiate between legitimate transactions and those intended for illicit purposes; additionally, they must be able to adapt to substitutions. Unregulated restrictions may cause undue harm to compliant producers but do nothing to prevent criminals from obtaining controlled items.

Thirdly, Mexico must focus on port security, protecting the investigators and prosecuting those officials who assist in trafficking. To simply arrest the operators of the labs and leave the people who protect them free to continue doing what they do is an invitation to rebuild.

Fourthly, financial investigators must link the suspect payment with the freight record, and with the company’s owner. Cryptocurrency tracing will supplement, but not replace, traditional transfer and trade transaction analysis.

The U.S. has to ensure its citizens can use naloxone, are provided with the best available evidence based treatments for addiction, and have the ability to track overdoses. Providing help to a person who is already addicted should receive equal political attention as preventing someone from becoming addicted by stopping a supply of drugs.

Finally, report on results: network disruption, continued convictions, increased treatment availability and reduced death rates. Reporting sanctions is about counting, reporting survival is about being held accountable.

Every government that substitutes blame for long-term action provides an opportunity for the illegal drug supply chain and ultimately another family to suffer.

Fransiscus Nanga Roka

Faculty of Law University 17 August 1945 Surabaya and Managing Partner Law Firm Victorious Indonesia