[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2227 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2227
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 11, 2023
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Ms. Cortez Masto) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing the Financing of Illegal
Synthetic Drugs Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
(3) 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 Culiacan (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.''.
(4) 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.
(a) 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--
(1) 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;
(2) 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;
(3) the overlap of the business model of human trafficking
and the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit
finance;
(4) the use of online illicit drug markets and the use of
social media for the marketing, sale, and payment for synthetic
drugs;
(5) financial methods used by transnational criminal
organizations, including--
(A) payment;
(B) money laundering; and
(C) repatriation of proceeds;
(6) 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
(7) United States Government activities to combat illicit
finance related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs,
including--
(A) interagency collaboration, such as personnel
detailed to other agencies to support the effort to
combat synthetic drugs trafficking and related illicit
finance;
(B) intergovernmental collaboration;
(C) intersectoral collaboration with the private
sector, including the business and nongovernmental
communities; and
(D) 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).
(b) 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).
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