I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1076 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2023 

Ms. DE LA CRUZ (for herself, Ms. PETTERSEN, and Mr. OGLES) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Energy and 

Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing the Financ5 ing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) According to the Center for Disease Control 

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

5 States died from drug overdoses or drug poisonings 

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

7 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic 

8 opioids like fentanyl. 

9 (2) According to the United National Office of 

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

11 Strategy 2021–2025’’, the number of synthetic 

12 drugs, also called New Psychoactive Substances, has 

13 increased 631 percent since 2009, with traffickers 

14 introducing an average of 80 new substances to the 

15 illicit drug market each year from 2009–2019. 

16 (3) In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, di17 rector of the Houston High Intensity Drug Traf18 ficking Areas (HITDA) program testified in Con19 gress that one kilogram of fentanyl can produce one 

20 million counterfeit pills containing one milligram of 

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

22 can buy a kilogram of fentanyl for an average price 

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

4 Professor, The George Washington University Elliott 

5 School of International Affairs, in March 2022 Con6 gressional testimony, ‘‘Financing is essential to sup7 port and sustain the command and control, per8 sonnel, arms, communications, logistics and oper9 ations of organized crime groups. For this reason, 

10 following the money trail and depriving criminals of 

11 illicit financial flows can disrupt and disable these 

12 networks.’’. 

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

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall carry out a study on illicit financing 

16 in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, in17 cluding fentanyl and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and 

18 methamphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and 

19 fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors, including— 

20 (1) the business of the trafficking of synthetic 

21 drugs and related illicit finance, such as the partici22 pation of transnational criminal organizations and 

23 terror syndicates and their notable trafficking cor24 ridors, including source and transit countries; 


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1 (2) the business models used by these 

2 transnational criminal organizations, including U.S. 

3 domestic and foreign activities for precursor pur4 chase or production, movement along the supply 

5 chain, manufacture of the completed product, mar6 keting, distribution, sales, and return of proceeds; 

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

8 trafficking and the trafficking of synthetic drugs 

9 and related illicit finance; 

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

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

12 payment for synthetic drugs; 

13 (5) financial methods used by such 

14 transnational criminal organizations, including— 

15 (A) payment; 

16 (B) money laundering; and 

17 (C) repatriation of proceeds; 

18 (6) the use of social media applications like 

19 Snap Chat, Discord, and Facebook and payment ap20 plications like CashApp to facilitate financial trans21 actions for synthetic drug trafficking, especially 

22 among young people; and 

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

24 finance related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs, 

25 including— 


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1 (A) interagency collaboration, including 

2 personnel detailed to other agencies to support 

3 the effort to combat synthetic drugs trafficking 

4 and related illicit finance; 

5 (B) intergovernmental collaboration; 

6 (C) intersectoral collaboration with the pri7 vate sector, including the business and non-gov8 ernmental communities; and 

9 (D) identified gaps or resource deficiencies 

10 in combating the trafficking of synthetic drugs 

11 and related illicit finance in the coordination 

12 and collaboration activities described in sub13 paragraphs (A) through (C). 

14 (b) REPORT.—Not later than the end of the 1-year 

15 period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the 

16 Comptroller General shall issue a report to the Congress 

17 containing all findings and determinations made in car18 rying out the study required under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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