The American embassy in Delhi announced that the United States has canceled the visas of Indian business people and their families for trafficking in ‘precursors’ of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has caused a drug crisis in the United States.
The statement did not name any individuals, but said the denial of visas would render them and their close family members ‘ineligible for entry into the United States.’ The embassy added that it will flag where an executive officer from a corporation has trafficked fentanyl precursors.
“The US Delhi remains steadfast in its commitment to combating drug trafficking. Individuals and organisations involved in the illegal production and trafficking of drugs to the United States will, with their families, face consequences that may include being denied access to the US,” the embassy said.
The embassy also said it is ‘grateful to our counterparts in the Government of India for their close cooperation in combating this shared challenge’. “Only by working together will our two governments address this transnational threat, and keep both our peoples safe from illicit drugs.” Fentanyl is a drug that can be produced in mass, and is 50 times stronger than heroin.
In February U.S. officials deemed it “the leading cause of death (among) people ages 18-45,” while also implicating China as “the main source for all fentanyl-related substances” entering the country.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on February 1, a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, along with a 25 percent tariff on goods coming from Mexico and Canada, requiring them to limit the flow of fentanyl into the United States. That tariff level was raised in August, as China and the United States entered into a trade war over tariffs.
Fentanyl has been approved for medical use since the 1960s, as a painkiller, but it has become one of the major causes of opioid related-deaths in the United States, with over 48,000 deaths in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is a highly dangerous substance, as a single dose of two milligrams has the capacity to be fatal.
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