Purchasing opioids from China requires little more than a Google search, a credit card and a mailbox, senators said Thursday in a report that accuses the U. S. postal system of failing to “recognize and prepare for” a tide of packages containing deadly fentanyl.
Purchasing opioids from China requires little more than a Google search, a credit card and a mailbox, senators said Thursday in a report that accuses the U. S. postal system of failing to “recognize and prepare for” a tide of packages containing deadly fentanyl.
Senate investigators said they were able to trace hundreds of transactions between Chinese sellers and American buyers over the course of a year, saying the shipments went through the U. S. mail and led to seven overdose deaths.
Investigators for the Senate Homeland Security permanent subcommittee on investigations started with a simple premise: Was it really that easy to buy fentanyl — the No. 1 killer in the opioids crisis — with a click of a mouse?
It was.
After a search returned hundreds of Google hits, investigators found six eager sellers who pitched fentanyl like it was dish soap or floor polish.
“Our fentanyl is very good and our client love the quality,” a seller boasted by email. “We also have powerful opioids like carfentanil.”
Online sellers preferred crypto-currency such as bitcoin but were ready to accept money wires, PayPal and major credit cards, while offering discounts for buying in bulk.
Sellers offered to send the drugs through foreign posts to U. S. mail, avoiding private couriers that require advanced data on packages and make them an easy mark for customs agents, said the investigators, working for subcommittee Chairman Rob Portman of Ohio and ranking Democrat Thomas R. Carper of Delaware.
Mr. Portman has pinpointed the mail system as the weak leak in efforts to stem the opioids crisis. Although some drugs travel up traditional routes through Mexico, he said, the flow of substance from China is the biggest threat.
“We now know the depth to which drug traffickers exploit our mail system to ship fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the United States,” Mr. Portman said. “The federal government can, and must, act to shore up our defense against this deadly drug and help save lives.”
Drug overdoses killed 60,000 people last year, according to government estimates, driven in large part by the influx of fentanyl and its analogs from overseas.
Dealers are mixing fentanyl into their heroin supplies, delivering a bigger high but posing a huge risk to unsuspecting customers.
