Congress finds the following:
(1)
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the People’s Republic of China remains the number one source of fentanyl precursor chemicals, which are then processed and manufactured into synthetic opioids by Mexican drug cartels to bring into the United States.
(2)
Of the more than 100,000 drug overdose-related deaths in the United States in 2021, roughly 64,000 were from illicit fentanyl which is more than double the number of such deaths since 2019.
(3)
Almost 100 percent of fentanyl derives from precursor drugs from China.
(4)
The amount of fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection skyrocketed from 2020 to 2022. In the fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a record 14,700 pounds of fentanyl, compared with 11,200 pounds in 2021 and 4,800 pounds in 2020.