China bans opioid, 3 other drugs after U. S. push

BEIJING — China said Monday that it would ban a designer drug called U- 47700 and three others after U. S. pressure to do more to control synthetic opioids blamed for fast- rising overdose deaths in the United States.

In China, U- 47700 has until now been a legal alternative to fentanyl and potent derivatives like carfentanil. Its usage has been growing among U. S. opioid addicts.

Last year, the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration listed U- 47700 in the category of the most dangerous drugs it regulates, saying it was associated with dozens of fatalities, mostly in New York and North Carolina. Some of the pills taken from Prince’s estate after the musician’s overdose death last year contained U- 47700.

The DEA has long said China is the top source country for synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and its precursors, assertions Beijing has said lack firm evidence. Still, the two countries have deepened cooperation as the U. S. opioid epidemic intensifies.

Deng Ming, deputy director of the National Narcotics Control Commission, said U- 47700 and three other synthetic drugs would be added to China’s list of controlled substances as of July 1.

Yu Haibin, a division director at the Ministry of Public Security’s Narcotics Control Bureau, said China was making “big efforts” to deal with drugs known as new psychoactive substances. These substances are made by modifying the chemical structures of controlled substances to get around the law, and China has now restricted 138 of them.

However, as soon as one substance is banned, chemists create slightly different and technically legal alternatives and then market them online.

Addressing the news conference, Justin Schoeman, Beijing- based country attache for the DEA, said, “I can tell you that when China controls a substance, [ new psychoactive substances] or fentanyl- classed substance, it has a huge impact on seizures and availability in the U. S., so thank you very much.