Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) announced that President Joe Biden signed their Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act into law. This law will help the federal government financially stifle organizations that traffic synthetic drugs like fentanyl into the United States.
“Fentanyl has killed too many of our loved ones all across this country—that’s why I’m proud the president signed my bipartisan legislation to address the transnational trafficking rings pushing deadly synthetic drugs into our communities,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This law will help stop drug cartels by improving our understanding of how they fund their illegal operations. I’ll always work across the aisle to keep Nevadans safe.”
“Fentanyl is an unprecedented crisis that continues to take the lives of innocent children and adults across our country, and we must combat it at all levels,” said Senator Cornyn. “This law will help law enforcement better understand narcotrafficking organizations’ illegal financing and business models, increasing our chances of defeating them and helping save American lives.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 107,000 people in the United States died from drug overdoses in 2023, with nearly 75,000 of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. The Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act will direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the illicit financing associated with synthetic drug trafficking and detail for Congress the business model of these organizations, how they move and hide their illicit earnings, and what the U.S. government can do to better prevent fentanyl money laundering.
Senator Cortez Masto has been working to crack down on illicit drugs since she served as Nevada’s Attorney General, when she worked with law enforcement and Mexican officials to combat the rise of methamphetamine manufacturing and cross-border drug trafficking. In the Senate, she has introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to combat the illicit use of xylazine and has authored legislation to combat drug trafficking online that was signed into law, as well as critical legislation to address the opioid epidemic.
###