A U.S. Senate report raises fresh concerns about how easy it is to buy illicit, mail-order opioids from China, a source federal authorities say has fueled a nationwide addiction crisis claiming tens of thousands of lives.
The new Senate report, issued ahead of a hearing Thursday, is the latest to focus on how international mail has become a major conduit for these drugs.
Investigators for the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations posed as would-be online buyers, entering terms like “fentanyl for sale” into Google and wound up exchanging messages with six websites, according to the report. The investigators used payment information to track more than 500 U.S.-linked transactions from these sites, at least five of which they believe are based in China.
