Ohio lawmakers pushing to increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking point to a recent drug seizure as proof new laws are needed.
House Bill 230, which has had three committee meetings since being introduced earlier this month, would increase trafficking charges for cocaine, fentanyl-related compounds, heroin and methamphetamine. It would also raise the charges for human trafficking to a first-degree felony and expand the definition of human trafficking.
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Three Michigan lawmakers introduced a bipartisan plan to heighten sentencing recommendations for various narcotic drug crimes.
Reps. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, Ann Bollin R-Brighton Township, and Angela Witwer, D-Delta Township, introduced a bipartisan plan to increase drug sentencing recommendations for heroin and fentanyl dealers.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized significant amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl at the border in Arizona on Thursday.
The law enforcement agency seized 71 pounds of meth and 63.3 pounds of fentanyl. According to a news release, the meth has a $63,796 value and the fentanyl is valued at $416,150. In total, this was nearly $480,000 in terms of “street value” taken into possession by CBP.
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The chair of the Minnesota Freedom Fund board was charged Thursday with felony fifth-degree drug possession and a misdemeanor cannabis violation.
Alpha News was the first to report earlier this month that Valentina McKenzie was arrested Aug. 31 by Bloomington police.
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Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt announced a new “Focus on Fentanyl” initiative Thursday aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and connecting them with resources.
Witt, who said her own family has been impacted by the fentanyl crisis, plans to release a series of videos profiling Minnesotans who were killed by the highly potent synthetic opioid. The first video chronicles the life of Seth Carlson, a 17-year-old athlete from Bloomington who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022.
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As part of Thursday’s International Overdose Awareness Day, the Tennessee Department Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (TDMHSAS) touted the success of fentanyl test strips, which are meant to reduce overdoses involving the deadly drug.
“With new legislation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in the spring 2022 session, TDMHSAS has been distributing fentanyl test strips for the past year to great success,” the department said. “The department distributed 125,000 test strips in the first year, and data collected from participants shows outcomes that surpass prior studies.”
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Synthetic opioids estimated to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl are creeping into the illicit drug market in the U.S., according to new research.
“Synthetic opioids, such as the fentanyl analog and nitazene drug class, are among the fastest growing types of opioids being detected in patients in the emergency department with illicit opioid overdose,” researchers warned in a paper published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.
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Nearly 90% of U.S. voters are concerned about fentanyl trafficking as drug overdose deaths continue to mount in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 election, according to a new poll.
The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, found that 57% of those surveyed are very concerned about fentanyl overdose deaths. An additional 32% are somewhat worried, or 89% overall indicating some level of concern.
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Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell warns about the importance of drug-related education of youth in her National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day statement Monday.
Mitchell cited the 2022 Arizona Youth Survey, in which 47% of eighth graders said they do not know of the deadly drug, according to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.
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Federal and local authorities in the Phoenix area have seized nearly 100,000 fentanyl pills and more than 20 pounds of fentanyl powder in just two law enforcement actions. This quantity of the Schedule II drug could potentially cause more than 5 million fatal overdoses.
On August 10, agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), working with local Arizona police, reportedly apprehended three men attempting to sell 50,000 fentanyl pills in the Phoenix area, according to Border Report. Only days later, on August 17, Gila County law enforcement reported seizing 49,500 fentanyl pills and 22.88 pounds of fentanyl powder during a traffic stop in Payson on the previous day. Payson is about 90 minutes away of Phoenix.
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As the scourge of fentanyl continues to rack up victims across the nation, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) was joined on Thursday by local and national law enforcement officials in Milwaukee County for a roundtable discussion on combatting the deadly drug.
The event, held in the suburban Milwaukee community of Franklin, included officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and North Central High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), state legislative leaders, and medical experts.
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All Phoenix public libraries will have free Naloxone kits available as part of a city-wide program to help decrease fentanyl and opioid overdoses.
Naloxone, branded as Narcan, is a fast-acting medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. In 2022, 991 people died of an overdose in Phoenix, accounting for more than half of all overdose deaths in Maricopa County, according to an Aug. 14 news release.
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An increasing number of restaurants and bars across the country are keeping a stock of Naloxone, an antidote to fentanyl and opioid overdoses, according to The New York Times.
Local officials and nonprofit organizations are ramping up efforts to more bars and restaurants as overdoses become all too common in public spaces, according to the NYT. Between February 2022 and February 2023, there were more than 105,000 reported drug overdoses in the U.S., according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Rising in the Hawkeye State polls, U.S. Senator Tim Scott did the Iowa State Fair Tuesday, rediscovering the sweet joys of funnel cake and sitting down with Governor Kim Reynolds for a “Fair-Side Chat.”
The top tier contestant for the Republican Party presidential nomination and proud South Carolinian also made a confession that could cause him some heartburn in the Palmetto State.
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Pennsylvania hospitals may soon test urine samples for fentanyl and xylazine, two of the most common additives found in heroin.
The state government legalized fentanyl test strips for personal use last year, following a number of other states responding to more overdose deaths in the last decade. More than 5,200 Pennsylvanians have died from an overdose death in the last year, according to CDC data.
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Some Republicans have of late quipped, is it any wonder the United States is facing a deadly fentanyl epidemic when the Biden administration can’t even keep cocaine out of the White House?
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) certainly isn’t surprised.
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A U.S. senator from Georgia is introducing legislation to crack down on fentanyl trafficking.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, announced the Fentanyl Trafficking Prevention Act, which could slap social media companies with criminal penalties of up to $10 million for facilitating the illicit distribution or dispensing of cocaine, methamphetamine, opioids and synthetic opioids. According to a news release from Ossoff’s office, these actions already run afoul of service providers’ terms of service.
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The Biden administration is set to form a global coalition of countries to target fentanyl trafficking, but it doesn’t appear that China, a major source of the synthetic drug, will participate.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to host a meeting Friday with representatives from 84 countries to discuss efforts to disrupt the global supply chains of illicit fentanyl, the State Department said Thursday. However, there’s no indication China intends to participate despite the country being the source of precursor chemicals used by the cartels in Mexico to make the synthetic drug.
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July 1 marks the start of a new fiscal year for Virginia, which means many bills passed during the legislative session take effect today. Here are some new laws in the commonwealth.
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Florida law enforcement officers and Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution have shut down a trafficking ring in the Orlando area. The group is responsible for pushing large quantities of narcotics, including fentanyl laced with xylazine, into the area.
Moody’s prosecution team is scheduled to prosecute 12 people on drug trafficking charges who are accused of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, xylazine and amphetamine in the Orlando area.
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Since Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star (OLS) launched more than two years ago, the multi-agency effort has led to the apprehension of nearly 400,000 foreign nationals who entered the U.S. illegally.
Since last April, Texas has sent over 500 buses of foreign nationals to six so-called sanctuary cities.
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Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on the federal government to remove marijuana from the top section of its controlled-substances list.
Called House Resolution 420 — an allusion to 4/20, a day of celebration for many pot smokers — the measure sponsored by state Representative Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) asks federal officials to move cannabinoid products off of Schedule I. The topmost of five illicit drug categories, Schedule I includes substances the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) characterizes as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
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Steve Lugo Leon, 24, of Phoenix, Arizona, has been sentenced to 70 months in prison after pleading guilty to intending to distribute an illicit substance containing fentanyl, according to a Thursday release from the Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (District).
The incident occurred back in 2021 at the Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe. Leon had arranged to sell fentanyl pills and methamphetamine with a client, but when police showed up, the dealer attempted to flee in his vehicle. He also had an accomplice in the car, Rafael Ivan Valenzuela Chairez, 20, of Phoenix; however, in the ensuing chase, Leon hit another vehicle, causing his truck to flip on its side. Chairez attempted to flee on foot, but both dealers were apprehended by police. Officers then found 946 grams of fentanyl, around 9,000 pills, and 12.83 kilograms of methamphetamine.
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Millions of kids and teens in America are falling victim to an insidious campaign to get them hooked on illegal, disposable vapes that are made in China and intentionally marketed in youth-enticing flavors.
After years of inaction, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally said it will make compliance and enforcement against these products a priority. FDA’s decision to start taking action to stop the rising tide of illegal disposable vapes in youth-enticing flavors that are flooding our country from China is an important step forward but letters won’t be enough to get these products off our shelves.
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SCOTTSDALE, Arizona – Hundreds showed up for a rally in Scottsdale with Kari Lake and former acting ICE Director Tom Homan Wednesday evening. The event focused on the problems related to Arizona’s border with Mexico, the surge in illegal immigrants under the Biden administration, the increase in crime, including rapes and sexual assaults, and the fentanyl crisis.
Lake began her speech, “What happens on the border, doesn’t stay on the border. It goes to all 50 states. This isn’t Vegas.”
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The Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (District) announced Wednesday the results of a multi-agency collaboration under Operations Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen that has resulted in “more than a ton of fentanyl” being confiscated along Arizona’s border between March 6th and May 8th.
“Thanks to the efforts of our partners at the Department of Homeland Security, we prevented substantial amounts of fentanyl and other drugs from reaching Arizona neighborhoods,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino.
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) recently reintroduced legislation that would increase criminal penalties for trafficking illegal fentanyl in the United States.
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The Arizona State Legislature had a busy Monday, with the House making decisions regarding nearly 100 bills covering various issues.
“Busy day at the #AZHouse! 95 bills on the House “shot clock”: the number of bills we’ll vote on today,” shared State Representative Matt Gress (R-Phoenix).
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order to combat the fentanyl crisis in Virginia.
The executive action is a “first-of-its-kind comprehensive fentanyl strategy” titled Right Help, Right Now.
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Lauri Badura lost her son Archie to an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2014. Back then, she had no idea what the synthetic opiod was.
Now, the Oconomowoc activist who has committed her life to fighting the scourge of the deadly drug knows better than any that “fentanyl is America’s new ‘F’ word.’”
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Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R) released a statement Monday pleading that parents remain vigilant for fentanyl use.
“I’ve spoken one-on-one with parents who have lost their kids to this poison. It is gut-wrenching to hear them talk about having a conversation with a child one evening, only to find that child gone the next morning,” said Mitchell. “We will keep prosecuting these cases and continue to get this information in front of parents and the public.”
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A Pennsylvania state legislator is spearheading a bill to more stringently regulate the sale of the painkiller kratom.
The Kratom Consumer Protection Act, sponsored by state Senator Tracy Pennycuick (R-Red Hill), would ban the substance’s purveyance to anyone aged 21 or younger. The legislation would also limit the product’s potency, bar its combination with controlled chemicals and require its display of “adequate labeling directions for… safe and effective use….”
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Pennsylvania’s Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed legislation banning supervised injection sites anywhere in the Keystone State.
Under the bill sponsored by Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia), no locality in Pennsylvania could permit the operation of a center wherein people could take illegal substances without risking prosecution. Such locations which are also called “safe injection sites,” “safe consumption spaces” or “overdose prevention sites” aim to avert opioid overdoses and drug-related disease transmission. Opponents like Tartaglione say the sites more effectively worsen opioid addiction and the carnage it creates.
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The Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) released the first quarter of 2023 immigration enforcement statistics for individuals prosecuted in partnership with the Tucson and Yuma Sectors of Border Patrol.
“Reducing migrant smuggling and mitigating the risk to communities impacted by these offenses continues to be a priority for the Office and its law enforcement partners. Some of these prosecutions are directed against leaders and coordinators of alien smuggling organizations. Other prosecutions are aimed at deterring young adult drivers, often recruited over social media platforms, from engaging in this dangerous activity,” the District shared.
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Arizona State Representative Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) announced Thursday that his bill, HB 2194, to reinstate the Drug Overdose Fatality Review Team (DOFRT) had received Gov. Katie Hobbs’s signature.
“Prevention works and the data provided by the Review Team to help with that is essential to combating dangerous narcotics and overdoses,” said Nguyen. “Entities such as MATForce in Yavapai County, prosecutors, and the State Legislature depend on information from the Review Team to identify and implement recommendations to prevent overdoses.”
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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging Congress to “begin impeachment proceedings immediately” of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She cites several reasons to justify her request, including claiming he’s violated federal law, lied multiple times under oath before Congress, and is endangering American lives.
In a letter addressed to five Republican congressional leaders Tuesday, she urged them “to act to protect the American people and impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas is directly responsible, and his actions have caused our unprecedented border crisis.”
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Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) unveiled on Tuesday another batch of legislative actions, signing eight bills and vetoing five. Among the bills to not make it was Senate Bill (SB) 1027, sponsored by State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), which would have increased punishments for fentanyl manufacturers who cause injuries to children.
“We have been fighting the opioid epidemic not just in Arizona, but nationwide for decades,” said Kern. “The least we can do is try to protect our children and future generations from exposure to a deadly drug often laced into opioids. This bill had the support of many Democrats, yet Governor Hobbs continues to show her priorities are out of line.”
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The Biden administration announced Tuesday its strategy for combating the supply chain allowing illicit fentanyl to enter the U.S. to kill Americans.
The plan includes partnering with other countries, increasing law enforcement information sharing, leveraging the private sector, increasing financial sanctions and urging congressional action, the White House said in a statement. Roughly 70,000 people in the U.S. died of synthetic opioid overdoses in 2021, up from roughly 57,000 in 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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In an interview Tuesday with The Star News Network, former Arkansas Governor and freshly declared Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said a Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump is a “sad day for America.”
Hutchinson, the latest Republican to announce his run for the White House, talked about his campaign, the border and the “tainted” prosecution of Trump in a conversation with The Star.
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Individuals who sell controlled substances in the Sunshine State such as fentanyl could face serious penalties for the overdose deaths of drug users if a new bill is signed into law.
Senate Bill 280 revises definitions for what constitutes first degree, second and third degree murder and also provides harsher penalties for adults who distribute, deliver, sell, or dispense specified substances that result in an injury or death to the user.
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Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R) announced Monday that four individuals responsible for the 2022 armed robbery of an Arizona jewelry store had been sentenced to prison.
“The victims in this case lived through terrifying moments as they feared for their lives at the hands of criminals,” said Mitchell. “Our office was relentless in the pursuit of justice for those nine individuals inside the store; the money and jewelry taken were recovered.”
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Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced shortly after entering office in January that she would eliminate the Border Strike Force (BSF) that former Governor Doug Ducey created in 2015, sparking outrage from Republican lawmakers concerned about rising crime and violence related to Arizona’s porous border with Mexico. Hobbs said as part of her budget, she would reroute the funding for the BSF elsewhere.
“In the same manner that Joe Biden has destroyed our country with his welcomed support for the prolonged lawlessness and drug crisis along our southern border, Katie Hobbs is destroying Arizona in three short months since taking office by her reckless dismantling of the Border Strike Task Force,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) told Fox News. “Countless more people will die from Hobbs’ open border policies.”
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Facing a Monday deadline to act on bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed hundreds of bills into law this week.
Lawmakers in the Virginia General Assembly sent hundreds of bills to the governor’s desk during this legislative session.
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The U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions held a hearing about how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is fueling the influx of fentanyl at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Committee Member Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) asked former U.S. Treasury Special Agent Jonathan Cassara if the CCP could “be designated as a threat to our country.” Cassara said the CCP could “very well be designated as an ongoing criminal enterprise.”
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The Arizona District of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that Mexican resident Juan Alfonso Torres-Rodriguez, 27, has been charged with possessing over one million fentanyl pills with an intent to sell them in the state.
According to the DOJ’s report, officials witnessed Torres-Rodriguez participating in a drug transaction in early March. From there, authorities searched his residency and vehicle to discover approximately 108 kilograms of fentanyl.
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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the launch of a program to combat the surge in illicit fentanyl smuggling at the southern border.
Mayorkas announced “Operation Blue Lotus” Tuesday during a visit to the Port of Nogales, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made large fentanyl seizures, to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents to the ports to help collect intelligence on drug cartels to create criminal cases against them. CBP illicit fentanyl seizures at the southern border for fiscal year 2023 are on pace to surpass fiscal year 2022’s seizure of roughly 14,000 pounds of the synthetic narcotic.
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Several states are advocating for harsher fentanyl penalties as overdose deaths surge in the U.S.
Nevada, Oregon, Alabama, Texas, West Virginia and South Carolina have all pushed to increase the length of sentences for fentanyl dealers, according to the Associated Press. Fentanyl is largely responsible for the more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths that occurred in 2021 up from 93,331 drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Mexico is running a “deception campaign” to deflect blame for America’s fentanyl epidemic as Republican lawmakers ramp up calls to target cartels, former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division chief Derek Maltz told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Top Mexican officials, including the country’s president Andres Manuel López Obrador, have in recent days attempted to shift the blame for fentanyl production in their country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported seizing 11,000 pounds of fentanyl between October 2022 and February 2023 at the southern border.
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Mexican cartels are using Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, as a cutting agent for fentanyl, according to a report exclusively obtained by The Center Square.
On March 3, 2023, the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center unclassified a Situational Awareness Bulletin prepared by the Southern Tactical Intelligence Unit, in conjunction with the Joint Strategic Analysis Unit, to make state and local law enforcement agencies aware of an emerging trend: Mexican cartels are lacing fentanyl with Xylazine.
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A new bill from State Sen. Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) aims to bring harsher punishments on those who traffic fentanyl passed through the Senate floor Tuesday with bipartisan support.
“The numbers speak for itself. Trafficking fentanyl is a deadly issue in our state that is only growing and tearing families apart,” said Kern. “These lethal pills are infiltrating our schools and communities. As a result, young and innocent people are losing their lives.”
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