AKRON, Ohio -- The opioid crisis became very personal for me on March 21, 2015, when my son, Tom, died from a lethal dose of Chinese-sourced fentanyl. But I also recognize that this crisis transcends the overwhelming grief shared by those of us who have been personally affected by it.

In fact, my background as a chemist and engineer — as well as recent developments in China, where I’ve done a considerable amount of business over the years — has convinced me that synthetic opioids now pose one of the greatest threats to our national security.

I learned a lot when the U.S. Department of Justice traced the deadly fentanyl that killed my son directly to a crime organization in China run by Fujing and Guanghua Zheng -- a drug trafficking organization sanctioned this week by the U.S. Treasury Department, along with Fujing and Guanghua Zheng and their organizations.

I learned that, every week, crime organizations within China produce and export enough fentanyl to kill millions of people. I also discovered that virtually all the world’s supplies of synthetic opioids come from these organizations, and that the Chinese government has done virtually nothing to eliminate this threat.

Tom Rauh in a family photo from 2013, two years before he died from a drug overdose later traced to fentanyl from China. (Photo by Focal Point, used with permission)

This is especially troubling when you consider the chemical properties of these dangerous substances. Essentially, fentanyl, carfentanil and other synthetic opioids are nerve agents in powder form — in other words, weapons of mass destruction. And the weaponization of fentanyl is not a far-fetched concept for sci-fi novels. For example, fentanyl-based aerosol has already been used by Russia to subdue Chechen rebels.

As a powder, fentanyl can easily be disbursed in air, water or food. This is a major national security issue, and we shouldn’t just be concerned about rogue nations or terrorist organizations.

Today, even a lone psychopath with limited resources could kill thousands of people using a simple fentanyl-based weapon. Coordinated deployment with the right dispersal technology could be catastrophic.

Unfortunately, synthetic opioids are cheap and relatively easy to find. In a clandestine operation run by the Department of Justice, more than 50 web-based vendors offered the investigators shipments of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids at astoundingly low costs. For example, one kilogram of fentanyl -- enough to kill 500,000 people -- can be purchased for $3,000 to $5,000. For a similar price, one can purchase enough carfentanil (a fentanyl analogue) to kill 50 million people.

By its own estimation, according to the U.S. indictment, the Zheng family could produce 10,000 kilograms of fentanyl every month — an operation that the Chinese government could easily trace and eliminate.

As Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Cronin noted in a recent episode of CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes,” if China wanted to shut down the illicit opioid industry, it could do it in one day.

Meanwhile, China continues to strengthen its military capabilities and footprint. In response, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany have stepped up their naval presence in waters adjacent to China.

Historians might be reminded of China’s disastrous “Opium Wars” with Britain and France, which dominated the drug trade in the mid-19th century. But the tables are now turned, with China controlling the flow of far-more-powerful synthetic opioids around the world and possibly exploring ways to weaponize these dangerous substances. A mountain of evidence has already shown that the Chinese government has no intention of prosecuting the Zheng family and, in fact, is a complicit partner in the organization’s activities.

Is the Chinese government currently using the opioid trade to destabilize the United States and our global partners?

One thing is certain: The casualties continue to mount — and the best way to save lives is to make trade with China contingent upon its government ceasing production and distribution of these deadly poisons.

In honor of his late son, James Rauh founded the Rising Anchor Project (risinganchor.com), a community dedicated to fighting against illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Earlier this year, he appeared on an episode of “60 Minutes” on CBS-TV that focused on the Zheng crime family in China.

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