Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act”.
Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act
A BILL
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to carry out a study on the trafficking into the United States of synthetic drugs, and related illicit finance, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
The Congress finds the following:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United States died from drug overdoses or drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending January 2022, with 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
According to the United National Office of Drugs and Crime in its “Synthetic Drug Strategy 2021-2025”, the number of synthetic drugs, also called new psychoactive substances, has increased 631 percent since 2009, with traffickers introducing an average of 80 new substances to the illicit drug market each year from 2009 to 2019.
In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, director of the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program testified in Congress that 1 kilogram of fentanyl can produce 1,000,000 counterfeit pills containing 1 milligram of fentanyl, saying, “Currently in Houston, Texas, you can buy a kilogram of fentanyl for an average price of $25,000 to $30,000. This same kilogram of fentanyl in Culiacán (Mexico) could be purchased at an average price of $13,500. Currently, the price of a fentanyl pill in Houston ranges from $6 to $65. Therefore, an illicit investment of $30,000 or less could result in a return of $6 to $32.5 million.”.
According to Celina B. Realuyo, Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, in March 2022 Congressional testimony, “Financing is essential to support and sustain the command and control, personnel, arms, communications, logistics and operations of organized crime groups. For this reason, following the money trail and depriving criminals of illicit financial flows can disrupt and disable these networks.”.
Sec. 3 GAO study on synthetic drugs trafficking
Study— The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study on illicit financing in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and methamphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors, that includes—
the business of the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit finance, such as the participation of transnational criminal organizations and terror syndicates and their notable trafficking corridors, including source and transit countries;
the business models used by transnational criminal organizations, including United States domestic and foreign activities for precursor purchase or production, movement along the supply chain, manufacture of the completed product, marketing, distribution, sales, and return of proceeds;
the overlap of the business model of human trafficking and the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit finance;
the use of online illicit drug markets and the use of social media for the marketing, sale, and payment for synthetic drugs;
financial methods used by transnational criminal organizations, including—
payment;
money laundering; and
repatriation of proceeds;
the use of social media applications like Snapchat, Discord, and Facebook and payment applications like Cash App to facilitate financial transactions for synthetic drug trafficking, especially among young people; and
United States Government activities to combat illicit finance related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including—
interagency collaboration, such as personnel detailed to other agencies to support the effort to combat synthetic drugs trafficking and related illicit finance;
intergovernmental collaboration;
intersectoral collaboration with the private sector, including the business and nongovernmental communities; and
identified gaps or resource deficiencies in combating the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit finance in the coordination and collaboration activities described in subparagraphs (A) through (C).
Report— Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report that contains all findings and determinations made in conducting the study required under subsection (a).