November 11th, 2022 by WCBC Radio
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is urging President Joe Biden to bring up the country’s fentanyl epidemic during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday.
The Attorney General penned a letter to Biden on Friday.
“It’s a known fact the ingredients for fentanyl comes from China and then sent to Mexico to be trafficked to the United States,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “As president, Biden should discuss this deadly problem with President Xi and demand action.”
Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, raised the issue with Xi face-to-face when the two leaders met.
The United States had 107,622 drug deaths in 2021, a 15% increase of 13,967 from 93,655 in 2020. Almost the entirety of the increase is due to fentanyl. West Virginia had 1,194 fentanyl and other synthetic opioid deaths in 2021, up 10% from 1,083 in 2020.
“This problem is only going to get worst with Biden’s open border policy and without the cooperation of Chinese authorities,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “So it is imperative we attack the problem from both sides—enforce our immigration laws and demand action from the Chinese government.”
“China needs to do more to crack down on the production of illicit fentanyl precursors, and Biden needs to demand action from Xi.”
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