Isn't this more because the supply of poppy was cut off when the US pulled out of Afghanistan? Users want the good stuff, dealers buy the cheap and available stuff and pretend it's real.

poppy/opium/heroin production has shifted to myanmar, but there has been less production, and the synthetics are much cheaper ,so that reduces profitability for poppy Afganistan, have set up addiction centers, where addicts are put, but it's cold turkey. Opium poppy production is bieng eradicated in Afganistan ,and penaltiys for drug smugglers and dealers will escalate, but a quick search shows the increadable synicism of the western press who are spinning it as "hardship for Afganinstans farmers"