I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2538 

To prioritize efforts of the Department of State to combat international 

trafficking in covered synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2021 

Mr. TRONE (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To prioritize efforts of the Department of State to combat 

international trafficking in covered synthetic drugs and 

new psychoactive substances, 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 ‘‘Fighting Emerging 

5 Narcotics Through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting 

6 Results Act’’ or the ‘‘FENTANYL Results Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRIORITIZATION OF EFFORTS OF THE DEPART2 MENT OF STATE TO COMBAT INTER3 NATIONAL TRAFFICKING IN COVERED SYN4 THETIC DRUGS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

6 prioritize efforts of the Department of State to combat 

7 international trafficking in covered synthetic drugs by car8 rying out programs and activities to include the following: 

9 (1) Supporting increased data collection by the 

10 United States and foreign countries through in11 creased drug use surveys among populations, in12 creased use of wastewater testing where appropriate, 

13 and multilateral sharing of that data. 

14 (2) Engaging in increased consultation and 

15 partnership with international drug agencies, includ16 ing the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and 

17 Drug Addiction, and regulatory agencies in foreign 

18 countries. 

19 (3) Carrying out the program to provide assist20 ance to build the capacity of foreign law enforcement 

21 agencies with respect to covered synthetic drugs, as 

22 required by section 3. 

23 (4) Carrying out exchange programs for govern24 mental and nongovernmental personnel in the 

25 United States and in foreign countries to provide 

26 educational and professional development on demand 


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1 reduction matters relating to the illicit use of nar2 cotics and other drugs, as required by section 4. 

3 (b) REPORT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con7 gressional committees a report on the implementa8 tion of this section. 

9 (2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT10 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘ap11 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

12 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

13 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

14 of Representatives; and 

15 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

16 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

17 Senate. 

18 SEC. 3. PROGRAM TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO BUILD THE 

19 CAPACITY OF FOREIGN LAW ENFORCEMENT 

20 AGENCIES WITH RESPECT TO COVERED SYN21 THETIC DRUGS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 660 of 

23 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2420), the 

24 Secretary of State shall establish a program to provide as25 sistance to build the capacity of law enforcement agencies 


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1 of the countries described in subsection (c) to help such 

2 agencies to identify, track, and improve their forensics de3 tection capabilities with respect to covered synthetic drugs. 

4 (b) PRIORITY.—The Secretary of State shall 

5 prioritize assistance under subsection (a) among those 

6 countries described in subsection (c) in which such assist7 ance would have the most impact in reducing illicit use 

8 of covered synthetic drugs in the United States. 

9 (c) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The foreign countries 

10 described in this subsection are— 

11 (1) countries that are producers of covered syn12 thetic drugs; 

13 (2) countries whose pharmaceutical and chem14 ical industries are known to be exploited for develop15 ment or procurement of precursors of covered syn16 thetic drugs; or 

17 (3) major drug-transit countries as defined by 

18 the President. 

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF ADDITIONAL APPROPRIA20 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

21 Secretary to carry out this section $4,000,000 for each 

22 of the fiscal years 2022 through 2026 and such amounts 

23 shall be in addition to amounts authorized for such pur24 poses. 


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1 SEC. 4. EXCHANGE PROGRAM FOR GOVERNMENTAL AND 

2 NONGOVERNMENTAL PERSONNEL TO PRO3 VIDE EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DE4 VELOPMENT ON DEMAND REDUCTION MAT5 TERS RELATING TO ILLICIT USE OF NAR6 COTICS AND OTHER DRUGS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es8 tablish or continue and strengthen, as appropriate, an ex9 change program for governmental and nongovernmental 

10 personnel in the United States and in foreign countries 

11 to provide educational and professional development on 

12 demand reduction matters relating to the illicit use of nar13 cotics and other drugs. 

14 (b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—The program re15 quired by subsection (a)— 

16 (1) shall be limited to individuals who have ex17 pertise and experience in matters described in sub18 section (a); 

19 (2) in the case of inbound exchanges, may be 

20 carried out as part of exchange programs and inter21 national visitor programs administered by the Bu22 reau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the De23 partment of State, including the International Vis24 itor Leadership Program in consultation or coordi25 nation with the Bureau of International Narcotics 

26 and Law Enforcement Affairs; and 


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1 (3) shall include outbound exchanges for gov2 ernmental or nongovernmental personnel in the 

3 United States. 

4 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF ADDITIONAL APPROPRIA5 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

6 Secretary to carry out this section $1,000,000 for each 

7 of the fiscal years 2022 through 2026 and such amounts 

8 shall be in addition to amounts authorized for such pur9 poses. 

10 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS 

11 CONTROL PROGRAM. 

12 (a) INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRAT13 EGY REPORT.—Section 489(a) of the Foreign Assistance 

14 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291h(a)) is amended by adding 

15 at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(10) SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS AND NEW

17 PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS.—Information 

19 that contains an assessment of the countries 

20 significantly involved in the manufacture, pro21 duction, or transshipment of synthetic opioids, 

22 including fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, to 

23 include the following: 

24 ‘‘(i) The scale of legal domestic pro25 duction and any available information on 


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1 the number of manufacturers and pro2 ducers of such opioids in such countries. 

3 ‘‘(ii) Information on any law enforce4 ment assessments of the scale of illegal 

5 production, including a description of the 

6 capacity of illegal laboratories to produce 

7 such opioids. 

8 ‘‘(iii) The types of inputs used and a 

9 description of the primary methods of syn10 thesis employed by illegal producers of 

11 such opioids. 

12 ‘‘(iv) An assessment of the policies of 

13 such countries to regulate licit manufac14 ture and interdict illicit manufacture, di15 version, distribution, and shipment of such 

16 opioids and an assessment of the effective17 ness of the policies’ implementation. 

18 ‘‘(B) NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES.— 

19 Information on, to the extent practicable, any 

20 policies of responding to new psychoactive sub21 stances (as such term is defined in section 7 of 

22 the FENTANYL Results Act), to include the 

23 following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Which governments have articu2 lated policies on scheduling of such sub3 stances. 

4 ‘‘(ii) Any data on impacts of such 

5 policies and other responses to such sub6 stances. 

7 ‘‘(iii) An assessment of any policies 

8 the United States could adopt to improve 

9 its response to new psychoactive sub10 stances.’’. 

11 (b) DEFINITION OF MAJOR ILLICIT DRUG PRO12 DUCING COUNTRY.—Section 481(e) of the Foreign Assist13 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291(e)) is amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘means a country in 

16 which—’’ and inserting ‘‘means— 

17 ‘‘(A) a country in which—’’; 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘(A) 1,000’’ and inserting 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) 1,000’’; 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘(B) 1,000’’ and inserting 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(ii) 1,000’’; 

24 (D) by striking ‘‘(C) 5,000’’ and inserting 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(iii) 5,000’’; 

2 (E) in subparagraph (A)(iii), as redesig3 nated by this subsection, by adding ‘‘or’’ at the 

4 end; and 

5 (F) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(B) a country which is a significant direct 

7 source of illicit narcotic or psychotropic drugs 

8 or other controlled substances significantly af9 fecting the United States.’’; and 

10 (2) in paragraph (5) to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(5) the term ‘major drug-transit country’ 

12 means a country through which are transported il13 licit narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other con14 trolled substances significantly affecting the United 

15 States.’’. 

16 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 It is the sense of Congress that— 

18 (1) the President should direct the United 

19 States Representative to the United Nations to use 

20 the voice and vote of the United States at the 

21 United Nations to advocate for more transparent as22 sessments of countries by the International Nar23 cotics Control Board; and 


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1 (2) bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral inter2 national cooperation is essential to combating the 

3 trafficking of covered synthetic drugs. 

4 SEC. 7. DEFINITION. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) The term ‘‘covered synthetic drug’’ means— 

7 (A) a synthetic controlled substance (as de8 fined in section 102(6) of the Controlled Sub9 stances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(6))), including 

10 fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue; or 

11 (B) a new psychoactive substance. 

12 (2) The term ‘‘new psychoactive substance’’ 

13 means a substance of abuse, or any preparation 

14 thereof, that— 

15 (A) is not— 

16 (i) included in any schedule as a con17 trolled substance under the Controlled 

18 Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.); or 

19 (ii) controlled by the Single Conven20 tion on Narcotic Drugs signed at New 

21 York, New York, on March 30, 1961, or 

22 the Convention on Psychotropic Substances 

23 signed at Vienna, Austria, on February 21, 

24 1971; 


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1 (B) is new or has reemerged on the illicit 

2 market; and 

3 (C) poses a threat to the public health and 

4 safety. 

Æ 


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