Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden, Xi Agree To Crack Down On Fentanyl Production
AP: Biden And China's Xi Agree To Curb Illicit Fentanyl
U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping emerged Wednesday from their first face-to-face meeting in a year vowing to stabilize their fraught relationship and showcasing modest agreements to combat illegal fentanyl and re-establish military communications. But there were still deep differences on economic competition and global security threats. (Madhani, Long, and Tang, 11/16)
Axios: Biden And Xi Agree To Curb Fentanyl Production
The agreement is aimed at limiting the manufacturing and export of fentanyl precursor molecules from China to Mexico, where much of the synthetic opioid in the U.S. now originates. In 2019, China banned the production sale and export of all fentanyl-related drugs in most circumstances, but that simply shifted the supply chain around. Cooperation on fentanyl has previously become entangled in broader geopolitical tensions. Last year, for example, China suspended cooperation with the U.S. on the issue to protest then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan. (Owens and Snyder, 11/15)
San Francisco Chronicle: Xi Says China ‘Sympathizes Deeply’ With Americans Over Fentanyl Crisis
Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking at the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Francisco, said a fentanyl deal between China and the United States would help crack down on the manufacturing and export of the deadly opioid that is devastating San Francisco and the rest of the U.S. “I would like to let you know that China sympathizes deeply with the American people, especially the young, for the sufferings that fentanyl has inflicted upon them. President Biden and I have agreed to set up a working group on counternarcotics to further our cooperation and help the United States tackle drug abuse,” Xi said. (Toledo, Li, Mishanec, Ravani and Munce, 11/15)
Reuters: Italy Arrests Six In Crackdown On Fentanyl Smuggling From China To U.S.
Italian police have arrested six people in a crackdown on a network that allegedly played go-between for fentanyl trafficking from China to the United States, Guardia di Finanza police and prosecutors in the northern city of Piacenza said on Wednesday. (Parodi, 11/15)
In other news about the opioid crisis —
San Francisco Chronicle: SF Drug Overdose Deaths So Far Already Exceed Totals From Last Year
San Francisco is on track to see the deadliest year on record for accidental drug overdose deaths in 2023, newly released preliminary data from the medical examiner's office shows. Between January and October, the city recorded 692 deaths — already higher than last year's total of 649, and 642 from the year before. If the city continues its average pace of 69 deaths per month, it will close out the year with a total of 830 deaths. That’s 28% higher than last year’s total, and 14% higher than the previous peak of 726 deaths in 2020. (Leonard, 11/15)
Stat: Tiny Wisconsin Tribe Becomes Model For Opioid Harm Reduction
Sunlight is streaming through holes in the walls of a disused, corrugated metal shack, revealing its modest insides: Dirt floors, stacks of two-by-fours, and a pile of Little Caesars pizza boxes under attack by a work crew on lunch break. This building is clearly not ready to be a home. But in the next 24 hours, it must become one. At this time of year, sleeping outdoors is deadly. And barely 100 yards away, on the historic pow-wow grounds of the Bad River Tribe, stands a small tent city still thawing out from yesterday’s first snow. Its inhabitants, left homeless by addiction to fentanyl and methamphetamine, have nowhere else to go. (Facher, 11/16)
