Opioid bill drawing big backers
UPS, web pharmacies among interests that could benefit from it
Sen. Rob Portman is pushing a bill that he says would help stanch the flow of deadly synthetic opioids through the U. S. Postal Service — a stream of illegal drugs that has unleashed a new wave of overdose deaths across the country.
Portman’s bill has attracted the support of powerful and predictable allies — including law enforcement officials and anti- addiction advocates. But it’s also become a magnet for an array of private interests that see the proposal as a potential benefit to their bottom lines.
Among the companies backing Portman’s anti- opioid bill: United Parcel Service, the private shipping company that competes with the postal service, and online pharmacies that compete with shady Internet drug sellers. Several big pharmaceutical companies are also on board — along with a video game and lottery company, a lobbying group for warehouses and the music industry’s trade association.
This odd collection of firms has formed a coalition with a nice- sounding name — “Americans for Securing All Packages,” or ASAP. The coalition has hired a well- known Washington PR firm to influence media coverage of Portman’s bill and tapped two high- profile pitchmen to write op- eds and do media interviews on the subject.
Why the big special- interest fuss over a small opioid bill?
The coalition’s supporters say it’s because Portman’s bill would stop an array of bad products from entering the U. S. — not just synthetic opioids but also counterfeit compact discs, fake Rolex watches and untested medications. At stake for those companies: billions of dollars in revenue lost to counterfeit goods and illicit sales.
Plus, this is Washington, where advocacy coalitions are a dime a dozen, and nearly every piece of legislation touches someone’s bottom line.
In this case, the target is Portman’s STOP Act, a bipartisan bill co- sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R- Fla., and Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., among other lawmakers. The measure would require any parcel sent through the U. S. mail system from abroad to include “advance electronic data.” This refers to basic information about a package: who sent it, who is receiving it and what’s in it.
CHEAP, DEADLY AND SENT VIA U. S. POSTAL SERVICE
Right now, the postal service gathers that information in paper form, while private shipping companies such as UPS and FedEx are required to collect it in digital form.
Portman says that has created a huge loophole for the makers of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which are being shipped into the U. S. via the postal service and mixed with heroin and other drugs.
These super- potent opioids, coming mostly from China, have caused an alarming spike in opioid- related overdose deaths, with Portman’s home state of Ohio hit particularly hard.
Nationally, more than 5,500 Americans died from overdoses of illegally made synthetic opioids 2014, a 79% increase from the previous year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Ohio, more than 1,000 people have died from synthetic opioid overdoses, according to Portman’s office.
“People are going on the Internet and ordering it, and it’s coming to their home,” Portman said. “It’s driving law enforcement crazy because it’s cheap, it’s deadly and … it’s coming through the mail system.”
By requiring the postal service to collect digital information about every parcel and transmit that data to key government agencies, investigators would be better able to track and investigate illegal shipments, Portman said. Law enforcement and customs officials would be able to use automatic sorting programs to identify potentially suspicious packages or questionable shippers.
Right now, “we’re literally taking giant sacks of mail and putting it through Xrays, looking for those shipments of concern,” Todd C. Owen, a top Customs and Border Protection official, told lawmakers at a Senate roundtable last year. “The volume is overwhelming.”
Also testifying at that session was an executive from UPS, which has lobbied for Portman’s bill and stands to benefit if one of its competitors, the U. S. Postal Service, is required to gather this electronic data. A spokeswoman for UPS did not respond to a request for comment.
But at the hearing, Norman T. Schenk, UPS’s vice president of global customs policy and public affairs, told Portman and other lawmakers that the bill would provide “the single biggest gain” in combating drug trafficking.
ENDING BLACK MARKET OR BOOSTING BOTTOM LINE?
Juliette Kayyem, a senior adviser to ASAP, said the coalition is not about helping a specific private company but rather about closing a porous U. S. mail system from a bevy of bad stuff.
So the Recording Industry Association of America is in the coalition because Portman’s bill could help curb the flow of pirated music. Legitimate online pharmacies are involved because of competition from shady Internet competitors. And major drug companies, such as Allergan and Johnson & Johnson, want to curb the sale of unapproved drugs or counterfeit medications.
Kayyem said she understands there might be a “suspicion” about the involvement of these private businesses, but there is nothing nefarious about the collective desire to make the mail system safer.