‘Keep it from reaching Ohio in the first place:’ U.S. Senate passes FEND Off Fentanyl

The U.S. Senate passed a national security package Tuesday night sending aid to foreign nations including Ukraine by a 79-18 vote. The package also includes a bipartisan bill called FEND Off Fentanyl which Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introduced.

It stands for Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence and is an effort to combat the rise in fentanyl-overdose deaths.

It’s in the national security package that passed in the U.S. House over the weekend.

“Fentanyl has taken too many lives and caused too much devastation in Ohio. FEND Off Fentanyl will save lives by going directly after the drug cartels’ billions in illicit profits, targeting the entire fentanyl supply chain and sanctioning illicit opioid traffickers and money launderers in China and Mexico,” Brown said. “This is good news for law enforcement and for families on the front lines who have demanded action for years now. The President needs to sign our bipartisan legislation into law immediately to help stop fentanyl at its source, before it ever reaches our communities. I want to thank law enforcement in Ohio and around the country for working side-by-side with us to get this legislation to the finish line.”

If it is signed into law by the president, the FEND Off Fentanyl Act officially declares the “international trafficking of fentanyl a national emergency.”

It would also enhance current law and creates sanctions on drug traffickers and those importing fentanyl into Ohio communities.

Fentanyl overdoses have killed 107,000 Americans, according to the FEND Off Fentanyl Act.

The Ohio Drug Enforcement Agency reported officers seized more than 87,000 fentanyl-laced pills in less than four months back in 2023.

“Administrator Anne Milgram at the DEA has described fentanyl as ‘the single deadliest drug threat’ our country has ever faced, and she is right. We need to do more as a nation to interdict the flow of this drug and its precursors into our country and severely sanction individuals and organizations involved in making and distributing this poison. Senators Tim Scott and Sherrod Brown have developed a comprehensive approach that codifies an existing Executive Order giving the President broad authority to attack fentanyl trafficking by using all the resources of the United States,” National President of the Fraternal Order of Police Patrick Yoes said.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2024 at 4:31 PM.