Schumer bill would declare fentanyl trafficking a ‘national emergency,’ open up sanctions

US Sen. Chuck Schumer said he will advance federal legislation to declare international fentanyl trafficking a national emergency and let the President sanction crooks who ferry the synthetic drugs into the United States.

The Senate Majority Leader said the bipartisan measure will be attached to a must-pass defense bill and will give the president the power to allow law enforcement to seize money from drug traffickers and sanction the drug cartels and criminal organizations who move fentanyl.

“For years, Chinese laboratories have been cooking up formulas of death and freely trafficking lethal fentanyl across New York, and to many other places across America, where it is killing tens of thousands of people — and it has to stop,” Schumer said in a Sunday statement. 

“When it comes to taking genuine action to address this crisis, China continues to kick the can down the road while American lives are kicked to the curb, enveloped by addiction or cut all too short by tragedy.”

The bill would also enhance the government’s ability to enforce the sanctions and require that the administration report to Congress about how it’s fighting trafficking. In addition, it would let the US Treasury Department fight fentanyl-related money laundering.

Fentanyl is a frighteningly powerful synthetic opioid often prescribed for severe pain or end-of-life care. The substance has laced the nation’s drug supply over the past decade, worming its way into bags of heroin, cocaine and other drugs to drastically increase their lethality.

Between August 2021 and August 2022, about 107,000 Americans died from an overdose, Schumer’s office said. Of those, 65% involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl — which is about 50 times stronger than heroin and can kill with just a few grains.

In the Big Apple, more than 3,000 people died last year from a fentanyl-related overdose, the New York Democrat said.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration also seized more than 379 million deadly doses of the drug in 2022, the statement said. That’s enough to kill every American.

Schumer said the bill has support on both sides of the aisle, with Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown — an Ohio Democrat – and ranking member Tim Scott — a South Carolina Republican – partnering to help pass it.

Fentanyl comes mostly from China and Mexico, with Chinese labs being the world’s largest producer of the drug and its analogues, according to Schumer’s statement.

After production, it’s either shipped directly to the United States or sent to criminal organizations in Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels — both based in Mexico — traffic the majority of fentanyl over the US border, according to the DEA.

Authorities seized more than 3 kilograms of pure fentanyl during an April drug bust on Long Island — which local cops said was enough to wipe out the entire population of Nassau County and maybe a third of Suffolk.

“This has simply got to stop,” Schumer said. “Right now, we have a window of opportunity with the upcoming defense bill (NDAA) that we cannot let close without having taken strong action.”

“This bipartisan issue must be a major priority because too many lives have been lost and too many others are at stake, especially here in New York.”