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China’s deadly role in America’s fentanyl epidemic

Is China deliberately fuelling its rival’s opioid crisis?

America’s opioid crisis is now in its third decade and has killed more people than the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam combined. Fentanyl, the most commonly used synthetic opioid, is up to 50 times stronger than heroin. Made from chemicals manufactured in China, it’s then put into pill form in Mexico and smuggled across the border. As China and the US agree to crack down on the illegal trade, is China deliberately fuelling its rival’s opioid crisis?

Guest: Roger Boyes, Diplomatic Editor, The Times.

Host: Luke Jones.

Clips: Channel 4 News, PBS, Sky News, NBC News, AP, CBS News, CNBC, Arte, South China Morning Post, Fox News.

This podcast has been acquired by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½. It is not complied by ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Editorial Standards but covered by the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

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27 minutes