The Drug Economy. Part 2. With Dr. Louise Shelley. A Special Report.

Fentanyl is regarded as one of the most deadly drugs in the world and one of the major killers of Americans who abuse narcotics. In recent years, there has been an exponential growth of deaths from consumption of non-medically prescribed fentanyl.

In 2016, synthetic opioids (primarily illegal fentanyl) were responsible for over 19,000 deaths, up from around 3,000 in 2010. In 2018, there were more than 31,000 American deaths attributed to consumption of synthetic opioids.

Mexican drug cartels are flooding the US with mass quantities of counterfeit prescription pills including Fentanyl, often trafficked in pill form. China produces the main ingredient used to make fentanyl, smuggled by the Mexican drug cartels.

Dr. Louise Shelley is Founder and Director of Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is a leading expert on the relationship among terrorism, organized crime and corruption as well as human trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism with a particular focus on the former Soviet Union.

Dr. Shelley also specializes in illicit financial flows and money laundering.

Asia Pacific Today. 26 May, 2021