State

Sen. Brown to U.S. administration: What’s the plan to fight fentanyl?

By Kelcey Norris Mahoning Matters

December 13, 2023 2:21 PM

(Official U.S. Senate photo by Rebecca Hammel)

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) called on the U.S. Treasury to do more to save the lives of Americans dying from overdoses caused by illegal fentanyl.

Should more be done to combat illegal fentanyl trafficking?

Brown specifically called on the Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to explain the goals of the new Counter-Fentanyl Strike Force to combat the trafficking crisis.

“They’ve formed a task force,” said Brown. “That’s not enough. We need concrete benchmarks for success. We need a real strategy to impose accountability on both those governments. I’m demanding the secretary yelling lay out a plan to exceed that accountability to most effective in this fight.

According to the Senator, illicit fentanyl is making its way into Ohio communities drug cartels in Mexico, which are being financially supported by laundering Chinese chemical suppliers.

“The international trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors constitutes an extraordinary threat to our national security and is a national emergency. Task forces alone are insufficient to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States. Rather, it is critical that the Administration define benchmarks and metrics to assess the effectiveness of its strategy for combating fentanyl trafficking and the opioid crisis and ensure accountability from the Governments of China and Mexico,” said Brown.

Last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 379 million doses of fentanyl — enough to kill every American. In 2021, nearly 107,000 Americans died from an overdose, and 65% of overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl.

Read Brown’s full letter to the Department of Treasury here.

Brown also introduced the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act to put sanctions on trafficking fentanyl in the U.S.

It passed in the Senate, but has to still be voted on in the House before it goes to the Office of the President for a final vote.

“The House needs to pass this FEND Off Act to impose new, more powerful sanctions targeting the illicit fentanyl supply chain,” said Brown. “When I was at the border a month or so ago with Wood County Sheriff [Mark] Wasylyshyn. One thing you couldn’t miss was how much power these cartels have. Drug traffickers make billions of dollars every year. Follow the money, go directly after those billions. It’s what our bill would do; it hits those cartels directly where it hurts. That’s what the administration needs to do.”

Northeast Ohio’s fight against fentanyl

Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree provided a firsthand account of how fentanyl affects Ohio and law enforcement agencies.

“We have a huge problem in the United States with fentanyl, and it has bled into every corner of our nation. It’s not a city problem, or a suburban problem, or a rural problem – it’s a national problem,”said Fatheree.

Brown introduced the FEND Off Fentanyl legislation with support from the Fraternal Order of Police, as well as Ranking Member Tim Scott (R-SC) and the leaders of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS).

“My jail, and jails nationwide, are filled with individuals suffering with addiction issues, many of whom also suffer with coexisting mental health issues and use illicit drugs to self-medicate. This is not a sustainable course that we are on,” said Fatheree. “I support Senator Brown’s efforts to address the fentanyl crisis, and his insistency on getting measurable, tangible results.”