dailycaller
Steve Birr
Vice Reporter
3:07 PM 01/05/2018
[excerpt]
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/05/bipartisan-bill-to-step-up-fentanyl-busts-at-the-us-border-heads-to-trumps-desk/A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for President Donald Trump to sign a bill that opens up new resources to border agents so they can step up screenings for the deadly opioid fentanyl.
The INTERDICT Act, proposed by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and co-sponsored his Republican counterpart, Sen. Rob Portman, secured unanimous support in the Senate in December and is now awaiting Trump’s signature. The legislation would arm U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents with new technology that can help identify illicit shipments of opioids, specifically fentanyl, which is driving the current national opioid epidemic, reports The Toledo Blade.
Fentanyl is synthetic opioid roughly 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine that is commonly cut into supplies of heroin, and increasingly cocaine. The INTERDICT Act frees up $15 million in federal funds for new personnel, facilities, testing equipment and screening devices at the border.
