The House on Thursday passed a bill that aims to prevent the shipment of fentanyl through the international mail system.
The House voted 353-52 to pass the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention, or STOP, Act. It seeks to stem the tide of illicit and powerful drugs such as fentanyl, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine, from reaching addicts through the U.S. mail system.
The bill requires the U.S. Postal Service to transmit electronic data on 70 percent of international packages to Customs and Border Protection by Dec. 31, 2018, and 100 percent by Dec. 31, 2020.
The goal is to enhance coordination between the two agencies and help customs officials target high-risk shipments for seizure.
The bill also creates civil penalties if the postal service accepts international mail shipments without electronic data after Dec. 31, 2020.
A recent congressional probe found that it is extremely easy to buy fentanyl from overseas.
Traffickers primarily use the U.S. postal system to send illicit drugs instead of private shippers such as FedEx because it is highly unlikely they will be seized, according to the probe.
“I was astounded to learn that current law treats packages coming in through private carriers like FedEx and UPS differently than it does shipments through the U.S. Postal Service, and as a result, drug traffickers can readily ship synthetic opioids into our country through the USPS,” said Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich.
Fentanyl overdoses have become a major driver of opioid overdoses in recent years. Of the 42,000 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016, more than 20,000 were linked to fentanyl, according to federal data.
The bill’s passage is part of a larger effort by the House to move more than 60 pieces of legislation over the next two weeks.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where it has bipartisan support.
