Top Republican Senator: Communist China Is ‘Intentionally Poisoning’ U.S. With Fentanyl

Sen. Joni Ernst (R.IA), stated Friday in an interview that communist China was conducting war against the United States through intentionally flooding it with fentanyl.

Ernst, who is the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee made these remarks in an interview with CBS News.

“The Chinese are selling these precursor chemicals into Mexico. Then the Mexican cartels are working on making the fentanyl and distributing up into the United States,” Ernst . “I think that the Chinese are intentionally poisoning America. And of course, the Chinese don’t want to assist us with this.”

“When we see an adversary like China poisoning our communities, it’s very disconcerting,” She added. “So we have to educate the American people. We have to work with our Mexican counterparts to push back against the cartel and the Chinese. We can’t continue to lose our youth to this fentanyl epidemic. It is extremely important that we push back.”

The report noted that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s top official recently told the network that there is a relationship between the Chinese chemical companies and the Mexican drug cartels.

CNN reports that the opioid epidemic in America began in the late 1990s when prescription narcotics were overprescribed. reported, and has now become opioid addicts by overdosing at high doses due to the introduction Fentanyl to the illegal drug market.

Fentanyl is responsible for the most drug deaths in the U.S. right now, and it’s commonly found mixed with cocaine, heroin, and fake prescription drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and even Adderall, the report added.

According to the report, heroin became easier to obtain in the U.S. starting in 2010. Fentanyl was introduced to the U.S. black marketplace shortly after. This led to an immediate increase in drug-related deaths.

The CDC reported that more than 106,000 Americans died in 2021 from drug overdoses. This is a 15% increase on the previous year.

“Mexican [drug cartels] will almost certainly have the greatest direct impact on the fentanyl market in the United States for the near future because of these organizations’ increased capacity and capabilities for fentanyl production, adaptations to restrictions on precursor chemicals, and existing drug trafficking infrastructure in the United States,” the DEA’s most recent National Drug Threat Assessment .

Mexican drug cartels “use a combination of methods to obtain chemicals used for fentanyl production in Mexico, primarily from sources originating in China, including purchases made on the open market, smuggling chemicals hidden in legitimate commercial shipments, mislabeling shipments to avoid controls and the attention of law enforcement, and diversion from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.”

“Law enforcement seizures in 2019 and 2020 include many chemicals which are uncontrolled in China and Mexico,” The report stated. “The emergence of this chemical demonstrates the continued efforts by traffickers in Mexico and China to bypass international precursor chemical controls to continue producing illicit fentanyl.”