Ray Donovan, Chief of Operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration, stands in front of "The Faces of Fentanyl" wall, which displays photos of Americans who died of a fentanyl overdose, at the DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on July 13, 2022. (Agnes Bun/AFP via Getty Images)

While the fentanyl crisis continues to kill Americans, President Joe Biden announced this week that he will visit the US-Mexico border. With its cartels, Mexico is the center of gravity for the drug overdose epidemic, and China supports these cartels with drug production, money laundering, and human trafficking. 

In a recent policy brief, Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters and Hudson Senior Fellow David W. Murray explain how the US should stop the Chinese Communist Party and Mexican cartels from poisoning Americans. Below are some highlights.

Key Insights

1. Force the CCP to stop producing and exporting fentanyl and precursors for deadly drugs.

Congressional action can implement sanctions until the flow of fentanyl stops. For example, Congress can prevent China from accessing US capital, stop Chinese businesses from listing on US stock exchanges, and block visas for CCP members and their families. Congress can apply sanctions progressively and reduce them only when overdose deaths stop.

2. Destroy the Mexican cartels.

Designate narco-terrorist groups as terrorist threats and apply all counterterror measures against them. Focus intelligence resources to create a real-time strategic and tactical understanding of their operations and dismantle the organizations. Offer to partner with Mexican authorities but make clear that resisting cooperation will lead to unilateral US action.

3. Dismantle the cartel and drug-distribution networks inside the US.

Focus federal, state, and local intelligence resources to understand domestic drug trafficking. Treat fentanyl traffickers as “active shooters”—deadly threats to be stopped immediately. Adjust criminal statutes to allow the holding of traffickers at all levels as individuals engaged in premeditated murder. Political leaders will need to explain and mobilize public support for such a change. The adjudication and punishment of such individuals can vary, and rehabilitation should be part of the process. But the goal is to keep them off the streets to break trafficking infrastructure.

Quotes may be edited for clarity and length. 

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