IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1076 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 30, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing the Financ3 ing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) According to the Center for Disease Control 

7 and Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United 

8 States died from drug overdoses or drug poisonings 

9 in the 12-month period ending January 2022, with 

10 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic 

11 opioids like fentanyl. 

12 (2) According to the United National Office of 

13 Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its ‘‘Synthetic Drug 

14 Strategy 2021-2025’’, the number of synthetic 

15 drugs, also called New Psychoactive Substances, has 

16 increased 631 percent since 2009, with traffickers 

17 introducing an average of 80 new substances to the 

18 illicit drug market each year from 2009-2019. 

19 (3) In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, di20 rector of the Houston High Intensity Drug Traf21 ficking Areas (HITDA) program testified in Con22 gress that one kilogram of fentanyl can produce one 

23 million counterfeit pills containing one milligram of 

24 fentanyl, saying, ‘‘Currently in Houston, Texas, you 

25 can buy a kilogram of fentanyl for an average price 

26 of $25,000 to $30,000. This same kilogram of 


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1 fentanyl in Culiaca ́n (Mexico) could be purchased at 

2 an average price of $13,500. Currently, the price of 

3 a fentanyl pill in Houston ranges from $6 to $65. 

4 Therefore, an illicit investment of $30,000 or less 

5 could result in a return of $6 to $32.5 million.’’. 

6 (4) According to Celina B. Realuyo, Adjunct 

7 Professor, The George Washington University Elliott 

8 School of International Affairs, in March 2022 Con9 gressional testimony, ‘‘Financing is essential to sup10 port and sustain the command and control, per11 sonnel, arms, communications, logistics and oper12 ations of organized crime groups. For this reason, 

13 following the money trail and depriving criminals of 

14 illicit financial flows can disrupt and disable these 

15 networks.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS TRAFFICKING. 

17 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

18 States shall carry out a study on illicit financing in con19 nection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including 

20 fentanyl and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and meth21 amphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and fentanyl 

22 and methamphetamine precursors, including— 

23 (1) the business of the trafficking of synthetic 

24 drugs and related illicit finance, such as the partici25 pation of transnational criminal organizations and 


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1 terror syndicates and their notable trafficking cor2 ridors, including source and transit countries; 

3 (2) the business models used by these 

4 transnational criminal organizations, including U.S. 

5 domestic and foreign activities for precursor pur6 chase or production, movement along the supply 

7 chain, manufacture of the completed product, mar8 keting, distribution, sales, and return of proceeds; 

9 (3) the overlap of the business model of human 

10 trafficking and the trafficking of synthetic drugs 

11 and related illicit finance; 

12 (4) the use of online illicit drug markets and 

13 the use of social media for the marketing, sale, and 

14 payment for synthetic drugs; 

15 (5) financial methods used by such 

16 transnational criminal organizations, including— 

17 (A) payment; 

18 (B) money laundering; and 

19 (C) repatriation of proceeds; 

20 (6) the use of social media applications like 

21 Snap Chat, Discord, and Facebook and payment ap22 plications like CashApp to facilitate financial trans23 actions for synthetic drug trafficking, especially 

24 among young people; and 


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1 (7) U.S. Government activities to combat illicit 

2 finance related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs, 

3 including— 

4 (A) interagency collaboration, including 

5 personnel detailed to other agencies to support 

6 the effort to combat synthetic drugs trafficking 

7 and related illicit finance; 

8 (B) intergovernmental collaboration; 

9 (C) intersectoral collaboration with the pri10 vate sector, including the business and non-gov11 ernmental communities; and 

12 (D) identified gaps or resource deficiencies 

13 in combating the trafficking of synthetic drugs 

14 and related illicit finance in the coordination 

15 and collaboration activities described in sub16 paragraphs (A) through (C). 

17 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than the end of 

18 the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of 

19 this Act, the Comptroller General shall issue a report to 

20 the Congress containing all findings and determinations 


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1 made in carrying out the study required under subsection 

2 (a). 

Passed the House of Representatives May 22, 2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 

By LISA P. GRANT, 

Deputy Clerk. 


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