Watch live as Joe Biden holds a meeting on Tuesday, 21 November, on the progress his administration is making on combating the flow of fentanyl into the US.
It comes after the US president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held a meeting on 15 November, announcing the resumption of bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics with a focus on reducing the flow of precursor chemicals fueling illicit fentanyl and synthetic drug trafficking.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use as pain relief and anesthetic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is commonly mixed with drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine and made into pills that are made to resemble other prescription opioids. “Fentanyl-laced drugs are extremely dangerous, and many people may be unaware that their drugs are laced with fentanyl”, the CDC says.
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised to step up his country’s efforts to block the importation of precursor chemicals used to make the deadly synthetic opioid.
