U.S. legislators are pushing the House and Senate leaders to move forward with legislation to strengthen America’s response to fentanyl coming through the nation’s borders and ports of entry.
In a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate Armed Services Committees, the bipartisan group of legislators asked for leaders to include the Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act in the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The lawmakers point to skyrocketing rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids as the reason law enforcement efforts need to be bolstered to put an end to this drug in the U.S.
The legislators said the Act would invest in the research and development of technologies and strategies that would improve law enforcement’s ability to deter, detect and interdict fentanyl shipments.
U.S. Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-02) and Pat Ryan (D-NY-19); and U.S. Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT) signed the letter.
“As leaders of the bipartisan Securing America’s Borders Against Fentanyl Act, we strongly believe the bipartisan bill would strengthen our nation’s response to illicit fentanyl entering through our borders and causing a tragic rise in fatal overdoses,” wrote the bipartisan group of lawmakers. “Overdose deaths in the United States, particularly due to fentanyl poisoning, continue to rise and pose a grave threat to our communities. Approximately two-thirds of overdose deaths last year involved synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, a figure that has been dramatically rising.”
The lawmakers continued, “Agency intelligence indicates the majority of drugs entering the United States come through ports of entry (POEs) along the Southwest Border. Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) technologies are a critical tool to enhance the ability of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to quickly detect illicit drugs and weapons. Due to fentanyl’s extremely small mass relative to its potency, it is crucial for CBP to have the advanced technologies necessary to detect it, even small amounts that are easy to hide. As transnational criminal organizations develop new ways and make use of modern technologies to smuggle illicit fentanyl across our borders, we must invest in research and development of the most advanced technologies and strategies to improve law enforcement’s ability to fight against criminals and their fentanyl trafficking operations.”
The full text of the letter is available here.
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Crystal Graham
