A new Senate bill would allow specially trained postal workers to search incoming foreign mail suspected of containing illicit opioids such as fentanyl, a major driver in overdose deaths in recent years.
The bill aims to bolster efforts to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into the country, as a majority of the shipments come from China.
“Right now, if a postal worker in one of these facilities processing foreign mail suspects a package contains illegal drugs, they can’t do a thing about it,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., one of the sponsors. “The bill will improve our ability to intercept these drugs before they take more lives in Louisiana and around the country.”
Cassidy introduced the legislation with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
“The opioid epidemic is devastating families and communities throughout Wisconsin, and one way to help prevent this is to stop illicit drugs like fentanyl from coming into our country,” Baldwin said.
Under the bill, postal workers could search mail addressed to the U.S. after probable cause is established. Currently, regular post offices don’t have the authority to search mail, so only workers at five international service centers across the country could conduct searches.
Cassidy and Baldwin also recently introduced a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Patrol more tools to seek out and identify illegal drugs from entering the country at the service centers.
The legislation follows a recent congressional probe that found that it was easy to buy fentanyl online and have it shipped overseas through the U.S. Postal Service.
