The opioid crisis in the United States sets appalling new records each year. Roughly 110,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the twelve months leading up to March 2023. Drug overdose deaths per one hundred thousand people almost tripled from 11.9 in 2009 to 32.4 in 2021. Most of these deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Last month the Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the White House to halt the restructure of OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. The Biden administration has asked for clarification on why a bankruptcy court allowed Purdue’s owners — nicknamed “the family that built an empire of pain” — to pay $6 billion to absolve themselves of any wrongdoing.

It would be comforting to think that corporate America is being held to account for its profiteering role in this mess. Unsurprisingly, that is not the US establishment’s strategy. Instead, the White House, Congress, and the Treasury have at times insinuated, at others outright claimed, that China is responsible for the crisis. According to this narrative, it’s not despair, working-class decline, inadequate public health care, and big business that got America hooked on opioids: it’s a Chinese conspiracy.