WASHINGTON—Much has been discussed about the fentanyl crisis, and blame has been directed to China, Mexico, and even the Biden Administration. However, the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has also been criticized over its alleged mishandling of synthetic drugs, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and other unregulated supplements and products. In an interview with Texas Politics, Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington (R) slammed China for contributing to a “black market” of illicit substances.
Counterfeit substances like Xanax, OcyContin, and Adderall are distributed in the United States via China, and those medications are sometimes laced with fentanyl or other opioids.
When asked what role the FDA played in this, Rep. Arrington joked that the FDA “stands for the barriers to innovating to save lives and find cures to diseases.”
The FDA has received significant criticism for not utilizing the necessary resources to inspect the vast volumes of imports into the country, and taking into account the rising cost of drug prices, people have looked elsewhere for life saving medication.
“It’s not just China. People go to Mexico. They go to Canada where we actually allow the Canadians to sell their drugs cheaper to the people that we produce over here,” Rep. Arrington explained to Texas Politics. “That our taxpayers actually subsidize in this country, so there’s a lot of work that’s supposed to be done on the drug supply chain, but there is no doubt that part of the bottle neck and the bureaucracy at FDA has created this black market because people can’t afford to take care of their loved ones.”
“What are you gonna do?” he questioned.
“You’re gonna do everything in your power to help your children, to save the life of your parents, and if the drugs – they claim some of these are readily available – but are they really?” Rep. Arrington further questioned.
“That’s why people are going to some of these, as you would call them, black markets that we have created indirectly.”
