Portman’s visit to Dayton, one of the areas hardest-hit by the state’s drug epidemic, came a day after the Dayton Daily News reported on the very loopholes the senator hopes his bill, the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, will address. The bill faltered last session.
INVESTIGATION: Loophole lets Chinese opioids into state
The newspaper reported overseas drug traffickers are exploiting a loophole in U.S. law that allows packages to enter the country through the U.S. Postal Service virtually unchecked.
“We’re going to have to figure out a way to make sure they (the Postal Service) have the resources to be able to get the information,” Portman said, noting that may include directing federal funds to enact the legislation. “We’re not asking them to do as much in terms of the law enforcement part as in terms of collecting information.”
An independent agency, the Postal Service does not use taxpayer money for its operations. Under federal law, it can't raise prices more than the rate of inflation without approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission.
More Dayton Daily News reporting on the drug epidemic:
» Stark number of ER visits show heroin's local grip
» Dayton tops list of drugged-out cities
» Coroner investigates 145 suspected overdose deaths
» What is fentanyl and how does it kill?
» 5 recent southwest Ohio drug busts
The Associated Press and Staff Writer Chris Stewart contributed reporting.
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