WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate this week unanimously passed the Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act, aiming to disrupt the financial networks of transnational criminal organizations behind synthetic drug trafficking. The bill, sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature to become law.
This bipartisan legislation directs the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate how these criminal organizations finance synthetic drug trafficking. The study will focus on the business models of these groups, their methods of moving and hiding illicit earnings, and how the federal government can more effectively target these financial operations. The GAO must submit its findings to Congress within one year of the bill’s enactment.
Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) praised the Senate’s passage of the bill, emphasizing its importance in fighting the fentanyl crisis. “As I’ve traveled across Pennsylvania, I’ve heard from too many families who have lost a loved one to the fentanyl crisis. No legislation will bring their daughters, sons, parents, relatives, and friends back, but we are taking steps to prevent the scourge of fentanyl from claiming more lives,” Casey said. “Like the FEND Off Fentanyl Act we passed this year, this bill will help us crack down on the cartels and Chinese chemical suppliers that are behind the fentanyl crisis—and it will save lives.”
The Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act follows the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, another legislative effort championed by Casey to curb the flow of fentanyl and its precursors from China and Mexico into the U.S. These measures reflect a growing urgency to tackle the financial underpinnings of the synthetic drug trade.
Through this new act, lawmakers hope to gain a clearer understanding of the financial operations of drug trafficking organizations and implement more effective strategies to combat them. The ultimate goal is to reduce the availability of synthetic drugs like fentanyl, which have devastated communities across the nation.
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