Chinese officials pull down the British flag on ship the Arrow. On 8 October 1856, Qing officials boarded the Hong Kong-registered Arrow and arrested sailors for smuggling and piracy. British officials in Guangzhou demanded the release of the sailors under the rules of Treaty of Nanking. They claimed that Qing officials had insulted the British flag on the Arrow. The incident sparked the Second Opium War. By Archivist @ Adobe Stock
You already know that Chinese interests are deeply involved in America’s fentanyl crisis. But China’s reverse-Opium War on America encompasses so much more. When American authorities zeroed in on Done Global for supplying illicit Adderall to Americans, the operation was covertly moved to China and continues to operate. Rolfe Winkler reports in The Wall Street Journal:
Federal authorities came down hard on Done Global, the California-based telehealth startup that prosecutors allege is an Adderall “pill mill” with a “predatory business model.”
Its founder was arrested and most of its U.S. staff have quit, but it’s still pumping out prescriptions to its American clientele.
Done’s big secret? Key operations were moved to China. Its staff there have been aggressive in making sure customers can still get easy prescriptions for Adderall, a drug prescribed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder that is also among the most abused drugs in the country.
After a two-year investigation, authorities arrested founder Ruthia He in June and charged her and six others in a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The founder, a Chinese citizen, was jailed for three months, and a district judge cited substantial risk she would flee the country. She was released last week, on condition that she remain under house arrest with two 24-hour guards. She has pleaded not guilty.
By the end of 2022, staffers across China had sidelined U.S. corporate staff and taken more control of strategy and operations, and began directing key policies.
Done’s China operations aren’t mentioned on its website, which lists an address in San Francisco—currently an empty storefront.
The company’s clinicians, who are based in the U.S. and write the prescriptions, are mostly nonstaff contractors. They said they reported to U.S. supervisors and didn’t know that policy directives were coming down from staffers in China.
He herself looked into leaving U.S. territory during the federal investigation—she made plans to fly to Hong Kong before she was stopped by authorities. In text messages with the head of Done’s China team, Yue Wang, she discussed fleeing the U.S. to avoid arrest, opening foreign bank accounts and which countries had extradition treaties, prosecutors allege.
Wang, a college classmate of He’s, now runs the company along with four others. Three are in China, including Wang, who didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Read more here.
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