Special to the American Press

The Senate has passed an anti-fentanyl trafficking bill that U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, helped champion. The Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act would combat the nation’s opioid crisis by targeting the supply chain from chemical suppliers in China to drug cartels in Mexico.

The FEND Off Fentanyl Act would reinforce current law and direct the Treasury Department to target, sanction and block the financial assets of transnational criminal organizations.

“In New Orleans, 94 percent of overdose deaths now involve fentanyl. Mexican cartels are buying the chemicals to make this drug from China and trafficking it into our country through the southern border. The House must move quickly to pass this life saving legislation, which would cut off the drug flow at the source,” Kennedy said.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is leading the legislation.

The legislation would:

• Declare that the international trafficking of fentanyl is a national emergency.
• Require the president to sanction transnational criminal organizations and drug cartels’ key members engaged in international fentanyl trafficking.
• Enable the president to use proceeds of forfeited, sanctioned property of fentanyl traffickers to further law enforcement efforts.
• Enhance the ability to enforce sanctions violations thereby making it more likely that people who defy U.S. law will be caught and prosecuted.
• Require the administration to report to Congress on actions the U.S. government is taking to reduce the international trafficking of fentanyl and related opioids.
• Allow the Treasury Department to utilize special measures to combat fentanyl-related money laundering.
• Require the Treasury Department to prioritize fentanyl-related suspicious transactions and include descriptions of drug cartels’ financing actions in Suspicious Activity Reports.