United States Secretary of State John Kerry and a group of 15 U.S. Senators issued two separate letters to the United Nations, urging the international body to add two chemicals essential for fentanyl production to a list of controlled substances, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The letter from Secretary Kerry was reportedly sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the week of Oct. 3. In the letter, Mr. Kerry requested that fentanyl ingredients NPP and ANPP be added to list of controlled substances by a U.N. convention that regulates narcotics internationally.
According The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Kerry wrote, "The United States is currently experiencing an epidemic of overdose deaths linked to opioids including fentanyl-laced heroin ... [the U.S.] urgently requests your assistance in expediting this chemical control action."
In the letter signed by 15 U.S. senators, dated Oct. 13, addressed to Werner Sipp, the president of the International Narcotics Control Board based in Vienna, which advises the U.N., the elected officials wrote, "As a result of recent international efforts to reduce illegal shipments of fentanyl, many traffickers are now seeking its precursors NPP and ANPP directly. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that traffickers often purchase these precursor chemicals from companies in China, and ship them to transnational criminal organizations located in Mexico, who then illicitly manufacture fentanyl on the U.S. border."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Kerry's letter triggers a formal review process, which will be conducted by the INCB.
Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than morphine. The Drug Enforcement Agency believes hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills laced with the substance have infiltrated the U.S. drug market. Heroin cut with Fentanyl has been linked to a string of overdose deaths in the U.S.
If NPP and ANPP are added to the U.N. list of controlled substances, countries would be required to monitor their export and inform recipient countries of any planned shipments, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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