Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff is pitching Senate legislation he says is designed to crack down on fentanyl trafficking. His bill takes aim at social media companies whose platforms are used by fentanyl dealers.
Georgia Congressman Mike Collins, the Butts County Republican who represents Athens in the US House, is also pushing fentanyl fighting legislation. The freshman Representative’s first bill is aimed at enhancing law enforcement capabilities in anti-drug efforts.
House floor speech from US Rep Mike Collins…
Fentanyl and other deadly substances are being seized at record levels by law enforcement officers. So far in Fiscal Year 2023, Border Patrol intercepted 20,000 pounds of fentanyl—enough to kill 4.6 billion people. That’s an incredible amount of deadly drugs, and it does not include dangerous opioid analogs–such as Zylazine–which are becoming far more common and are a challenge to identify in the field.
Zylazine, also called TRANQ or the “Zombie Drug,” is a veterinary tranquilizer and fentanyl analog that is wreaking havoc on American communities and putting law enforcement officers at risk. According to the DEA, over the past two years, the Southern and Western United States have experienced an over 100% increase in Xylazine encounters. This is a very concerning trend. TRANQ earned the name”Zombie Drug” because it kills human tissue and is resistant to opioid overdose treatments.
Our federal and local law enforcement officers are working hard to keep our communities safe at great personal risk and they need the tools to identify these drugs in order to safely encounter them in the field.
That is why 25 of my colleagues and I introduced the TRANQ Research Act. This commonsense legislation directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to conduct research on the detection and handling of the newest, most dangerous synthetic opioids.
Detection capabilities will extend to police officers, border patrol agents, and other first responders so they are better equipped to stem the flow of deadly drugs coming into our country and keep themselves safe while doing it.
Our bill passed this House unanimously in May, and the Senate returned it in June with minor amendments that I support. I urge you today to take up the amended TRANQ Research Act quickly so we can send it to the president’s desk. Let’s deliver again for the American people and get this crucial legislation signed into law.