Toomey sees hope for bill targeting fentanyl

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey has been traveling across Pennsylvania to meet with local officials and first responders who have been personally impacted by the opioid and fentanyl epidemic.

In those discussions, he has been touting legislation that he feels can help.

The Blocking Deadly Fentanyl Imports Act, which the Republican lawmaker worked on with his Democratic colleague Sen. Doug Jones from Alabama, would expand reporting requirements related to foreign countries that

produce illicit fentanyl and limit assistance to countries that fail to take actions to combat illicit drug production and trafficking.

These conditions already apply to any nation identified by the Department of State as a major producer or trafficker of illicit heroin, marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

The legislation was introduced in February 2019 but never brought up for a vote.

But, Toomey said Wednesday, he hopes that is about to change. He said congressional leaders have agreed on a deal that will fold the legislation into the annual National Defense Authorization Act that is likely to be approved by the Senate this week.

Toomey said on a conference call with reporters that he wanted to take a moment to highlight the occasion and stress how much he believes the legislation will help curb the devastation caused by the deadly synthetic opioid coming into the country illegally at unprecedented levels.

“While we have understandably been extremely focused on the coronavirus and the deaths that have resulted from the pandemic, I don’t want us to lose sight of the appalling consequences of the ravages of the opioid epidemic — which is not over,” he said. “And fentanyl became the opioid of choice, and it’s still an incredibly deadly drug.”

Fentanyl, which is often mixed with other drugs, has been linked to hundreds of accidental fatal overdoses in Berks County over the past few years alone.