Toomey, Joyce talk ideas to stem flood of fentanyl into US | News, Sports, Jobs

“Virtually all — if not all of the fentanyl that ends up on the streets in central Pennsylvania and everywhere else in our commonwealth — originates overseas. In fact, specifically, it originates in China and finds its way here to Pennsylvania and other parts of the country,” Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Friday during a visit to the Blair County Courthouse.

Toomey was joined by Congressman John Joyce, R-13th District, who earlier this week visited three towns in his district so he could hear from local law enforcement about the impact illicit drugs are having on their communities and what more can be done to address the problems wrought by opioid and methamphetamine abuse.

On Friday, the topic was fentanyl, and Toomey pointed to the seizure of 110 pounds of fentanyl at the Port of Philadelphia in June 2017 as an example of the scale of the problem.

“That’s enough to kill every man, woman and child in Pennsylvania — twice,” Toomey said. “That’s how powerful and how lethal this is.”

Just 2 mg, equal to a couple grains of salt, can be lethal to most people, he added.

Toomey said bipartisan legislation he has cosponsored along with Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., called the Blocking Deadly Fentanyl Imports Act, would tie foreign aid and taxpayer-backed loans to the cooperation of the receiving country with U.S. drug enforcement efforts regarding fentanyl.

“It also sends a very clear warning to any country that might choose to turn a blind eye to this very, very dangerous activity,” Toomey said.

Toomey said while it won’t likely to end all fentanyl imports, it will make it more expensive and more difficult for traffickers and diminish the supply.

“Solutions to this are going to have to be many and varied,” Toomey stressed. “There is not silver bullet.”

Another bill, the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, cosponsored by Toomey with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would require “the U.S. Treasury to impose sanctions on financial institutions that are facilitating the business of these kingpins wherever they are in the world,” Toomey said.

He noted it updates the Foreign Assistance Act of 1983, which already includes sanctions for countries that allow trafficking other drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Fentanyl is not on the list, and Toomey said it is time for that to change.

Joyce spent time this past week in his district conducting roundtable discussions with law enforcement in Altoona, Bedford and Waynesboro to talk about how drugs are affecting the local communities.

“The reality of the situation is, the one thing we are not doing enough about is to combat the crisis in stopping these harmful drugs — these poisons — from entering our country,” Joyce said.

Joyce said the problems that come with illicit drugs affect communities on a daily basis.

“If we can do this, we can inhibit the amount of narcotics falling into the hands of people in our community.

“This clearly is a sound piece of legislation, and I am proud to cosponsor similar legislation on the House side,” Joyce said, adding that working with Toomey to stop harmful drugs from getting into country will be a top priority for him in Washington.

Toomey pointed out that 70 percent of fatal opioid overdoses in Pennsylvania involve fentanyl, and he turned to Blair County Coroner Patricia Ross to talk about how the drug has impacted Blair County.

Ross said in 2018, 40 percent of the fatal drug overdoses involved fentanyl and one of the those was fentanyl alone.

Sheriff James Ott said he believes addressing the local drug issue, one he called a serious epidemic, has to involve efforts such as the proposed legislation.

“It’s affecting our smaller communities as well as large,” Ott said, adding what the two legislators are trying to do is just what he thinks is needed.

Mirror Staff Writer Greg Bock is at 946-7458.