ICYMI – WMUR: Hassan introduces legislation to help detect fentanyl at southern border

Senator Hassan has led efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Last month, Senator Hassan’s bipartisan END FENTANYL Act, which will help Customs and Border Protection crack down on fentanyl trafficking at the border, was signed into law. Last year, Senator Hassan, as part of bipartisan Congressional Delegation trips, visited Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and China where she spoke with foreign officials about economic and public safety priorities – in particular the need to crack down on fentanyl, the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, and other drug trafficking. To address the issues raised on these trips and in other briefings and hearings, she has worked to increase funding for border security. Senator Hassan also worked with her colleagues to pass into law the bipartisan INTERDICT Act, which has provided Customs and Border Protection with additional tools to help detect and intercept fentanyl and other illegal synthetic opioids.

Read more from WMUR here or below:

WMUR: Hassan introduces legislation to help detect fentanyl at southern border

By Troy Lynch

NASHUA, N.H. — With fentanyl continuing to cause overdoses and deaths in New Hampshire, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan is introducing legislation to try to prevent the deadly drug from coming into the country.

[…] Hassan said she wants to stop the problem, starting at the southern border.

"Most fentanyl is smuggled through the ports of entry at the southern border, and it's hard to detect," Hassan said.

Hassan is co-introducing the Catch Fentanyl Act to improve nonintrusive inspection technology to allow for more car undercarriages to be scanned for fentanyl with more accuracy. It would also increase personnel at the border.

"To make sure that we can screen every single vehicle coming through a port of entry and find smuggled fentanyl or other narcotics and interdict them," Hassan said.

Nashua is far from the southern border, but Hassan said that stopping any fentanyl coming in through the border is a win for the country that positively affects New Hampshire.

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