A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for President Donald Trump to sign a bill that opens up new resources to border agents so they can step up screenings for the deadly opioid fentanyl.
The INTERDICT Act, proposed by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and co-sponsored his Republican counterpart, Sen. Rob Portman, secured unanimous support in the Senate in December and is now awaiting Trump’s signature. The legislation would arm U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents with new technology that can help identify illicit shipments of opioids, specifically fentanyl, which is driving the current national opioid epidemic, reports The Toledo Blade.
Fentanyl is synthetic opioid roughly 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine that is commonly cut into supplies of heroin, and increasingly cocaine. The INTERDICT Act frees up $15 million in federal funds for new personnel, facilities, testing equipment and screening devices at the border.
“We have the technology. We simply don’t have the resources yet,” Brown said Friday, according to The Toledo Blade. “This bill provides $15 million to come up with the resources to detect fentanyl. It’ll support hundreds of these screening devices.”
Brown notes that the flow of fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border is having a devastating effect on the population of Ohio. The state now has the second highest drug overdose death rate in the U.S., behind only West Virginia. The state lost 4,329 residents to drug overdoses in 2016, a 24 percent increase over the previous year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nearly 40 per 100,000 people in the state now die from a drug-related overdose in Ohio, largely due to the influx of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its analogs, which are at least 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Officials say without the presence of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, commonly called Narcan, the number of opioid deaths would be much higher. First responders in Ohio administered roughly 43,000 doses of naloxone in 2016.
Nationally, drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death for Americans under age 50, killing 63,600 people in 2016.
WATCH:
The Daily Caller News Foundation is working hard to balance out the biased American media. For as little as $3, you can help us. Freedom of speech isn’t free. Make a one-time donation to support the quality, independent journalism of TheDCNF. We’re not dependent on commercial or political support and we do not accept any government funding.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.