To combat drug smuggling, Trump signs bill to provide $9 million for opioid sensors
Customs agents will have $9 million for additional equipment to detect fentanyl and other opioids from entering the country under a bill President Trump signed Wednesday.
The Interdict Act — an acronym for International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response by Detecting Incoming Contraband with Technology — allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection to buy chemical screening devices that can detect the deadly drugs as they enter the United States.
China is the largest source of fentanyl smuggling, but the drug is often shipped first to Mexico or Canada where it then crosses the border into the United States. It’s often shipped by mail or other couriers — and even ordered online — but it can be difficult to detect in small amounts.
“They’re using our postal system and they’re killing our people,” Trump said in an Oval Office signing ceremony with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
He said the drugs are dangerous even to the drug-sniffing dogs used to detect opioids in packages. “Even dogs die from the scent,” he said. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this.”
At 50 times more powerful than heroin, people addicted to opioids often turn to fentanyl because of it’s low cost and wide availability.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., passed the House 412 to 3 and was unanimously approved in the Senate.
Other bills signed by President Trump Wednesday:
► The Connected Government Act, sponsored by Rep. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., which requires federal public websites to be mobile-friendly.
► The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017, sponsored by Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., which requires the Justice Department to submit a report to Congress on mental health services by law enforcement agencies and allowing federal grants for peer mentoring mental health programs for police.
► Three federal lands bills: Naming a mountain in the Sierra National Forest in California as Sky Point; exchanging lands in the Mt. Hood Wilderness in Oregon; and allowing for the expansion of the Coltsville National Historical Park in Connecticut.
Source:- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/10/combat-drug-smuggling-trump-signs-bill-provide-9-million-opioid-sensors/1022548001/
