Photo Courtesy of Sen. Schumer’s Office
Schumer has announced his support for the bipartisan INTERDICT Act.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer on Sunday announced his support for a new, bipartisan plan that would help cutoff the flow of illicit fentanyl from China, Mexico, and other countries into the five boroughs and across the country.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine—but is 50 to 100 times more potent. However, as Schumer pointed out last weekend, most of the fentanyl being sold on the street is illicitly manufactured. While distributors in China are the principal source of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture the drug, as well as a source for finished-product illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, Mexico is the primary source for illicit fentanyl smuggled into the United States.
Fentanyl suppliers use methods to mislabel shipments or conceal them inside legitimate goods in order to avoid Customs and Border Protection detection, Schumer said. In 2016, CBP seized nearly 200 pounds of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, primarily from along the southwest border. This is a 25-fold increase over seizures in 2015, Schumer noted. Between 2014 and 2015, deaths involving synthetic opioids, which include fentanyl, increased by 72 percent, taking more than 9,500 lives. The labs that make these synthetic opioids and take advantage of CBP’s limited capabilities to screen international packages, know that fentanyl is extremely lucrative for dealers and cartels, who can sell $3000 to $5000 in fentanyl purchased from a Chinese drug laboratory for up to $1.5 million on the street.
So, to address these challenges, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the INTERDICT Act in March of 2017 in order to ensure CBP has tools to identify illicit drugs and prevent them from coming across the border. Schumer on Sunday announced his support for the bipartisan legislation.
Specifically, the INTERDICT Act:
Ensures that CBP will have additional portable chemical screening devices available at ports of entry and mail and express consignment facilities, and additional fixed chemical screening devices available in CBP laboratories.
Provides CBP with sufficient resources, personnel, and facilities – including scientists available during all operational hours – to interpret screening test results from the field.
Authorizes – based on CBP guidance – the appropriation of $15 million for hundreds of new screening devices, laboratory equipment, facilities, and personnel for support during all operational hours.
Schumer also on Sunday publicly decried a just-revealed White House plan to “gut” the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s budget by 95 percent. New York’s senior senator called the proposed move, “the most destructive contribution [Trump has] made yet to the fight against the opioid and heroin epidemic, and another clear sign he has no intention of keeping the promises he’s made to the American people. While candidate Trump pledged to ‘take care’ of Americans struggling with addiction and spend the money to succeed, his proposal to eliminate funding for programs, such as High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Drug-Free Communities – which are instrumental in aiding local enforcement drug trafficking in many communities in New York, at the southern border and elsewhere – would effectively kick Americans seeking treatment to the curb and make our communities less safe.”
