WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas followed through on his commitment to finalize regulations that will enable Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to fully implement their bipartisan Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act.
The regulations are designed to help prevent a number of premature deaths through the screening and seizure of illicit opioids as they enter the country through the U.S. Postal Service. In addition, the rule will help CBP target other illegal items. Secretary Mayorkas committed to finalize the regulations so that the STOP Act could be fully implemented at his Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
“I appreciate Secretary Mayorkas’s commitment to finalizing these STOP Act regulations,” said Portman. “The regulations announced today will ensure that our bipartisan STOP Act is fully implemented and that packages containing synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, or any other illicit substances shipped into our country through the U.S. Postal Service are stopped before they are delivered to our communities. These regulations will help save lives at a time when overdoses have increased due to the social and economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
“It is critical that we use all tools available to prevent dangerous synthetic drugs from entering our communities through the U.S. Postal Service,“ said Klobuchar. “I am pleased that Secretary Mayorkas and the administration are making the implementation of the STOP Act a priority by closing the loopholes that allow foreign manufacturers to flood our markets with unsafe drugs.”