Murphy: China's Contributing to Fentanyl Crisis

Tension between the United States and China continues to build, and lawmakers speculate that things will only get worse with the announcement that U.S. troops will be withdrawing from Afghanistan in September. During an interview concerning the threat that China poses on the United States, Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D) discussed how China is contributing to the fentanyl crisis.

On Twitter, Murphy, who is rumored to soon be launching a Senatorial bid against Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R), expressed that “Chinese companies are sending precursor chemicals to countries like Mexico, where they are made into fentanyl before coming to the U.S., where they kill Americans.”

Yesterday, the lawmaker announced that she had “asked DoD officials what is being done to track production and shipment of these chemicals.”

Accusing China of showing “lack of transparency” and “lack of cooperation,” Murphy called for China to provide more information regarding their production of fentanyl. “I just hosted a panel featuring witnesses from the DEA and ONDCP regarding China’s role in America’s opioid crisis,” she said, explaining that China has been delivering the precursor chemicals that are “made into fentanyl at labs, and then mixed with other illicit drugs before they make their way to our homeland.” Once here, “they kill Americans and are destroying communities all across this country.”

Lawmakers in the Sunshine State have been trying to respond to the growing crisis. In early April, Florida Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) introduced the FIGHT Fentanyl Act, which seeks to permanently ban fentanyl. He asked for members of Congress to expedite the passage of the bill.

“If the current ban expires, we can expect more dangerous drugs will flood our streets and more people will die,” he said, affirming that Congress “cannot allow that to happen.”

The Health Subcommittee called the issue a bipartisan concern.

Just several weeks ago, The Floridian"s publisher Javier Manjarres was down at the U.S. southern border where Texas State Police boat crews informed us that they are seeing more and more fentanyl crossing the border because Mexican cartels are no producing the drug in Mexico.