Legislation to address drug smuggling at southern border signed into law

Sen. Jacky Rosen co-sponsored bill

President Joe Biden signed into law Tuesday a bill that requires the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to review field operation policies and handbooks once every three years in an attempt to restrict drug smuggling at the southern United States border.

The bipartisan legislation — Eradicating Narcotic Drugs and Formulating Effective New Tools to Address National Yearly Losses of Life Act — was sponsored by Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-nev., and Rick Scott, R-fla.

Rosen in a statement said, “The overwhelming flow of fentanyl through our southern border is destroying communities and families across Nevada. That’s why I’ve been working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to secure our border and get CBP the resources they need to combat the fentanyl crisis.”

The bill also requires the commissioner to submit a report once every three years to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives that summarizes policy updates.

Some CBP policies are outdated and don’t provide guidance on handling of drugs like fentanyl, Rosen’s office said. The new legislation is based on a 2019 U.S. Government Accountability Office report that found “CBP has not updated many of its policies — in a few cases for almost 20 years.”

The Nevada Department of

Health and Human Services reported that, as of December 2023, 962 people had died from substance poisoning, with 615 of those occurring in Clark County alone. Approximately 26 people per 100,000 died of a drug overdose in Clark County in 2022, a slight decrease from the almost 29 people per 100,000 in 2021.

In 2022, the most recent year of available data, 51,435 people in the U.S. died of drug overdose, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 82% of deaths involved at least one opioid, and illegally made fentanyls were the most commonly involved opioids.

“I’ll keep working in a bipartisan way to keep families in every community across Nevada safe,” Rosen said.