Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act

Subjects: Government Operations and Politics, Congressional oversight, Drug trafficking and controlled substances, Fraud offenses and financial crimes, Government studies and investigations, Internet, web applications, social media, Smuggling and trafficking

Summary:  <p><strong>Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to carry out a study on illicit financing in connection with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and methamphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors, and to report to Congress.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1076 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing the Financing of Illegal 
Synthetic Drugs Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to the Center for Disease Control and 
        Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United States died from 
        drug overdoses or drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending 
        January 2022, with 67 percent of those deaths involving 
        synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
            (2) According to the United National Office of Drugs and 
        Crime (UNODC) in its ``Synthetic Drug Strategy 2021-2025'', the 
        number of synthetic drugs, also called New Psychoactive 
        Substances, has increased 631 percent since 2009, with 
        traffickers introducing an average of 80 new substances to the 
        illicit drug market each year from 2009-2019.
            (3) In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, director of the 
        Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HITDA) program 
        testified in Congress that one kilogram of fentanyl can produce 
        one million counterfeit pills containing one milligram of 
        fentanyl, saying, ``Currently in Houston, Texas, you can buy a 
        kilogram of fentanyl for an average price of $25,000 to 
        $30,000. This same kilogram of fentanyl in Culiacan (Mexico) 
        could be purchased at an average price of $13,500. Currently, 
        the price of a fentanyl pill in Houston ranges from $6 to $65. 
        Therefore, an illicit investment of $30,000 or less could 
        result in a return of $6 to $32.5 million.''.
            (4) According to Celina B. Realuyo, Adjunct Professor, The 
        George Washington University Elliott School of International 
        Affairs, in March 2022 Congressional testimony, ``Financing is 
        essential to support and sustain the command and control, 
        personnel, arms, communications, logistics and operations of 
        organized crime groups. For this reason, following the money 
        trail and depriving criminals of illicit financial flows can 
        disrupt and disable these networks.''.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS TRAFFICKING.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
carry out a study on illicit financing in connection with the 
trafficking of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, 
fentanyl- and methamphetamine-related substances, Captagon, and 
fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors, including--
            (1) the business of the trafficking of synthetic drugs and 
        related illicit finance, such as the participation of 
        transnational criminal organizations and terror syndicates and 
        their notable trafficking corridors, including source and 
        transit countries;
            (2) the business models used by these transnational 
        criminal organizations, including U.S. domestic and foreign 
        activities for precursor purchase or production, movement along 
        the supply chain, manufacture of the completed product, 
        marketing, distribution, sales, and return of proceeds;
            (3) the overlap of the business model of human trafficking 
        and the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit 
        finance;
            (4) the use of online illicit drug markets and the use of 
        social media for the marketing, sale, and payment for synthetic 
        drugs;
            (5) financial methods used by such transnational criminal 
        organizations, including--
                    (A) payment;
                    (B) money laundering; and
                    (C) repatriation of proceeds;
            (6) the use of social media applications like Snap Chat, 
        Discord, and Facebook and payment applications like CashApp to 
        facilitate financial transactions for synthetic drug 
        trafficking, especially among young people; and
            (7) U.S. Government activities to combat illicit finance 
        related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including--
                    (A) interagency collaboration, including personnel 
                detailed to other agencies to support the effort to 
                combat synthetic drugs trafficking and related illicit 
                finance;
                    (B) intergovernmental collaboration;
                    (C) intersectoral collaboration with the private 
                sector, including the business and non-governmental 
                communities; and
                    (D) identified gaps or resource deficiencies in 
                combating the trafficking of synthetic drugs and 
                related illicit finance in the coordination and 
                collaboration activities described in subparagraphs (A) 
                through (C).
    (b) Report.--Not later than the end of the 1-year period beginning 
on the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
issue a report to the Congress containing all findings and 
determinations made in carrying out the study required under subsection 
(a).
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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