A viral story published by Vice News exposed a new problem faced by those who are unfortunately addicted to heroin: Their drug of choice is being replaced with Chinese fentanyl, and it started in September.
In a piece of impressive length featuring interviews with an equally impressive number of heroin addicts and experts, Vice News broke the news that there is apparently a nationwide heroin shortage. It does not appear to be caused by Joe Biden’s supply chain shortage, however.
No, it turns out that good, old fashioned Made-in-Afghanistan heroin was recently replaced with Chinese fentanyl that is imported with greater ease and at lower cost than its previously dominant weaker competitor.
Heroin addicts and their advocates have complained that the China’s relentless capitalistic pursuit of market share over the opiate market, at the expense of heroin, is resulting in more opiate deaths. It is apparently much easier to overdose on fentanyl than it is heroin.
The article profiles an unfortunate man identified as Garrett who drove as many as four hours per day to buy as little as a gram of the illicit drug. Vice explains that Garrett actually moved to a different town to be closer to his heroin connections only to have the drug become impossible to find.
“He hasn’t come across any heroin since September,” reported Vice News. “It’s been entirely replaced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s up to 50 times more potent.” The situation is apparently worse on the East Coast, where heroin has been impossible to find for some time.
Many Americans have heard jokes about heroin coming from Afghanistan despite the United States occupying the country for nearly 20 years, but the country is indeed one of the world’s top exporters of the drug.
In 2019, under United States occupation, Afghanistan exported nearly 80% of the world’s supply of heroin. More than 120,000 people in Afghanistan were employed in the growth or manufacturing of the illicit drug, and the process contributed up to 11% of Afghanistan’s economy, according to the BBC.
However, Vice claims that Europe has thus far been spared the onslaught of Chinese fentanyl because of its land connection to Afghanistan. It is apparently still more expensive to import the more lethal drug from China, for now.
Vice News fails to note one major variable that almost certainly changed the heroin market in September of this year: Joe Biden withdrew from Afghanistan and allowed the Taliban to assume control of the country.
In the same stroke, it seems logical that Joe Biden opened the United States drug market up to Chinese drug dealers for the price of 13 U.S. Servicemembers who lost their lives, and the lives of foreign allies and Afghan civilians.