Beijing (CNN) China on Thursday turned the table on Washington in addressing the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States.

US opioid crisis Opioids are drugs formulated to replicate the pain reducing properties of opium

Include both legal painkillers like morphine and illegal drugs like heroin or illicitly-made fentanyl

Number of opioid prescriptions increased from 112 million in 1992 to a peak of 282 million in 2012

About 11.5 million Americans age 12 and older misused prescription pain medicine in 2016

In October, President Trump declared a national public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis

"The biggest challenge China faces in cracking down on the smuggling of opioids is the huge demand from the US," said Yu Haibin, a senior official with the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, the country's top law enforcement agency.

"The United States should strengthen its educational and publicity campaigns to reduce domestic demand, intensify its crackdown on internet-based drug crimes, and share more lab data with China to improve our detection and verification capabilities."

Yu also took a jab at America's changing drug environment and its impact.

"Quite a number of US states have legalized medical or even recreational use of marijuana," he said at a press conference Thursday. "I think this trend has had a negative effect on public recognition or mentality on the opioid problem."

Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Comedian and actor John Belushi, known for his early work on "Saturday Night Live," died in 1982 after a "speedball," a combination of heroin and cocaine injected together via the same syringe. He was 33 years old. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Australian actor Heath Ledger, star of "A Knight's Tale," "Brokeback Mountain" and the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight," died in 2008 of a prescription drug overdose . He was 28. Opiates such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) were found in his system, along with alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium) and two insomnia drugs. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Actor River Phoenix collapsed and died outside Johnny Depp's West Hollywood nightclub on October 31, 1993, after consuming morphine and cocaine. He was 23 years old. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, was found dead in his bathroom on August 16, 1977. At the time, his death was attributed to a heart attack, but later investigations found multiple prescription drugs in his system, including the opioid codeine. Elvis was 42 years old. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Rock superstar Prince, known as "The Purple One," died at his Paisley Park home in Minnesota in April of what the medical examiner called a "self-administered" overdose of the painkiller fentanyl, one of the most powerful of all opioids. Prince was 57 years old. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died in February 2014 from a mixture of the opioid heroin and cocaine , benzodiazepines and amphetamines. He was 46. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin "Glee" actor and singer Cory Monteith died of an overdose of heroin mixed with alcohol in July 2013. Monteith had a history of drug use and rehabilitation attempts. He was 31 years old. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Paul Gray, bassist for the metal band Slipknot, died of an overdose of morphine and fentanyl in 2010. He was 38 years old. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Comedian and actor Chris Farley, who launched his career on Saturday Night Live, died in December 1997 of a combination of the opioid morphine and cocaine, complicated by heart disease. He was 33 years old. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Considered one of the premier female rock singers of her time, Janis Joplin was found dead in her apartment on October 4, 1970, from an overdose of heroin. She was 27 years old. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Country music legend Hank Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac in 1953 of an overdose of morphine and alcohol while being driven to a concert. The story goes that he was injected by a doctor with vitamin B12 and morphine, an opioid painkiller, before climbing into the car with a bottle of whiskey. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Celebrities who died from painkillers, cocaine and heroin Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud died of an overdose of morphine, given to him by his doctor at his request. Freud had been fighting a malignant cancer of the mouth for years, which was finally deemed inoperable. He was 83. Hide Caption 12 of 12

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