ICYMI: Concord Monitor Highlights Bipartisan Bill Cosponsored by Senator Hassan to Crack Down on Importation of Deadly Drugs

WASHINGTON – Last weekend, the Concord Monitor highlighted the bipartisan STOP Act, which Senator Hassan helped introduce, to crack down on the importation of deadly drugs that are being shipped through our borders to drug traffickers here in the United States.

The Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, ?which Senator Hassan cosponsored with Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and others, is designed to help stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from entering the United States. The bill would require shipments from foreign countries through our postal system to provide electronic advance data—such as who and where it is coming from, who it’s going to, where it is going, and what’s in it—before they cross our borders and enter the United States.??

See below for coverage highlights: 

Concord Monitor: N.H. opioids come from as far away as China and Mexico

Every day, quantities of drugs both large and small are transported into New Hampshire from other states in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

But the path for the flow of deadly heroin and fentanyl starts thousands of miles away, in Chinese warehouses, and poppy fields and clandestine labs run by Mexican cartels.

As New Hampshire continues to suffer from the opioid epidemic, authorities are seeing more deadly fentanyl coming into the state.

… Most of the fentanyl in the United States comes from China, according to a recent report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

… “It’s almost like the Wild West. You can pretty much get what you order,” said Tom Ridge, former Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “It’s a global marketplace, it’s a global drug trade.”

Ridge, who is now an adviser for a coalition focusing on stopping the flow of drugs sent through the mail, said there are still a lot of questions on where exactly drugs are being shipped to and from.

“We’re focused on all countries,” he said. “Even if a country legitimately tries to eliminate the illicit production of fentanyl, it’s virtually impossible.”

That’s the goal of new bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate called the STOP Act.

Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan is one of the bill’s co-sponsors. She said that while private postal companies like UPS and FedEx are required to provide package tracking information, the United States Postal Service isn’t required to.

That’s what the STOP Act is trying to change, and Hassan said she’s hopeful it will give law enforcement more information to help combat the supply of illicit drugs.

“It’s really important that we’re working to combat and beat this epidemic on all fronts,” she said.

In a grid-locked Senate, Hassan said she’s hopeful that addiction is one of the things that Republicans and Democrats can agree on.

“I do think there is bipartisan support for attacking this problem from all angles,” Hassan said.

AP: Hassan backs bill to target flow of drugs as law enforcement sees more fentanyl coming into NH

A bill with bipartisan support in Congress targets the flow of drugs sent through the mail.

The Concord Monitor reports that Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan is co-sponsoring legislation to require the U.S. Postal Service to provide package tracking information.

… Much of the fentanyl in the United States comes from China, and drug makers in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. can receive shipments through the U.S. Postal Service.

Hassan said she hopes that even in a grid-locked Senate that Republicans and Democrats can work together on fighting drug addiction.

WCVB:

A bill going through Congress is taking aim now at the flow of drugs through the U.S. mail.

New Hampshire’s U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan is a cosponsor of this measure. It requires the U.S. postal service to provide more detailed package tracking information…

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