Drug consumption is at least as much a demand side problem as a supply side one.<p>The chemical precursors for the production of Fentanyl are widely used in the legal pharmaceutical industry. Focusing the entire suppression effort on the supply is akin to blaming global steel producers for local gun deaths. Furthermore, whilst fentanyl abuse is a global problem, it is particularly acute in the US, likely stemming from decades long over prescription of legal opiates, which seeded the addict population so that propagation of addiction of illegal substances would be inevitable.<p>There are clear examples of states which have stopped epidemic drug abuse - Communist China is in fact one of those examples - but if that is too unpalatable for US policy makers to take lessons from, try Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew for an more acceptable Asian face for the eradication of this societal menace.<p>Bottom line is that you need centralised state intervention to eliminate dealers and distributors, coupled with renditions to remove the vulnerable from the exposure to opportunity, coupled with pathways out of poverty for those who wish to take a different life.