U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) plans to introduce a new bill to combat the flood of drugs through the U.S. Postal Service.
Drug cartels are using social media apps to coordinate drug flow by sending packages via mail, Lewis McKinley, Scott's communications director explained. Scott urged the Biden administration to enforce the STOP Act, which requires advanced electronic data (AED) on incoming packages from foreign entities. Scott is determined to stop the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl, which has "taken the lives of so many," McKinley told Federal Newswire.
“Sen. Scott believes the Biden administration must step up and do everything in its power to enforce the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act that was signed into law years ago," McKinley said. "Last year, he wrote to the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, urging him to take immediate action to close a loophole allowing dangerous drug cartels to smuggle fentanyl into America using the United States Postal Service.
"Sen. Scott will also soon introduce the Uniform Postal Data Acquisition for Transparency and Early Detection within the United States Postal Service Act to curb the flow of fentanyl through the mail by strengthening electronic data requirements on shipments from foreign adversaries, so the U.S. will be able to stop foreign cartels from circumventing border patrol agents. Sen. Scott will not stop in his fight to put an end to the deadly fentanyl crisis that’s taking the lives of so many.”
According to The National Interest, former President Donald Trump signed the STOP Act in 2018, which "requires USPS to gather advanced data on its shipments and share such information with U.S. Customs and Border Protection," according to Congress.gov. Since then, drug cartels have openly advertised their tactics of shipping drugs via mail, as an investigative report found the STOP Act is not stopping the packages from getting through.
A Washington Post investigative report found that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol didn't require AED when inspecting packages, so many Chinese drug cartels continued to use the postal system instead of private carriers. Fentanyl generally comes into the U.S. through Mexico as Chinese drug cartels manufacture the drug and send it to Mexico, the National Interest reported.
In May 2022, a U.S. government accountability office report discovered mail via USPS was one of the top ways the drugs were entering the U.S. According to NPR, “Chinese vendors have tapped into online networks to brazenly market fentanyl analogs and the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl and ship them directly to customers in the U.S. and Europe, as well as to Mexican cartels."
Scott is part of a bipartisan Congressional effort to enforce AED on all incoming international packages through USPS. According to his website, he applauded the End Fentanyl Act, which "requires the commissioner of CBP to review and update the Office of Field Operations’ policies and handbooks, as necessary and at least once every three years, in order to respond to illegal activity, such as the trafficking of drugs and humans along the border."
Scott also cosponsored the OPIODS Act to "improve data and surveillance related to opioid overdoses," according to his website.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered. The CDC reported more than 106,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021, more than double the number who than died in 2015 (52,404).
