AG Jeff Jackson wants the president to negotiate change from Chinese apps that fund fentanyl

North Carolina’s top prosecutor is asking the president for
help in the fight against fentanyl. Attorney General Jeff Jackson says
criminals are using Chinese apps to launder millions of dollars which fund
the fentanyl epidemic in the US. He thinks the president can negotiate a
change.

The effort hits home for the Nash family. This past weekend
marked four years since Jeff Nash lost his daughter, Amanda.

“It was a tough weekend. It was. I don’t think it gets
any easier,” Nash told WRAL.

Nash is one of thousands of fathers who knows what it feels
like to lose a child to fentanyl. And he knows what people will say…

“His daughter should have known not to do it. No one
forced her to do it. She was a grown woman. She was an adult who made her choices
and this was the natural consequence of her choice. And to say that would be
right. I understand that. However, two things can be right. It also is right for
our federal, state and local governments to do everything they can to keep this
poison away from our people,” Nash said.

Fentanyl is the primary driver of the opioid crisis in North
Carolina, contributing to over 75% of fatal drug overdoses in recent years. But
a small change gives cause for hope. 2025 and early 2026 data from the state office
of the medical examiner indicate a potential decline in fentanyl-positive
deaths for the first time in years.

North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said there is
still work to do.

“We’re losing six people a day. I’ve spoken to a lot of families
who have lost people. I told them I’ll do whatever I can and one thing I can do
is go after the money. If you go after the profitability of a crime, you’ll
reduce the prevalence of that crime,” Jackson said.

More than $100 million a week flow through Chinese owned
apps to support the sales of fentanyl in the US, Jackson said.

Over the last year, his office got one app called WeChat
to agree to be more responsive with investigators and make encrypted spaces on
the app more hostile to fentanyl money laundering. But its sister app, Weixin is
not subject to US laws and wants the White House to take action.

In a letter to the president, Jackson and five other
attorneys general from Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Kentucky and South
Carolina urged the president to take action. It states that despite the agreement
with WeChat to work with investigators, neither it nor Weixin agree to share
data from the ap.

“In practice, this means that law enforcement can only see
one side of illegal transactions, shielding Chinese-based users from justice,”
the letter said.

Nash wondered why only six attorneys general would support
the effort. Jackson said the focus was to get a request to the president that
was not political, bipartisan and clear. 
He believes President Trump has the ability to negotiate with the
Chinese to effect change when it comes to money changing hands through its
apps.

“I think we recognize that the Chinese government is
different than the American government and if the leader of China decided to
make a change, that change would be made,” Jackson said.

Nash was reluctant to revisit his pain discussing his
daughter’s death, but said it’s worth it if this letter gets people talking or
gets any government movement to reduce the flow of fentanyl into the US.

Nash was one of the subjects in the WRAL documentary, ‘Crisis
Next Door – The Fentanyl epidemic.’