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PRINTER'S NO. 1714
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
325
Session of
2017
INTRODUCED BY BURNS, ROZZI, PASHINSKI, BAKER, PICKETT, MILLARD,
V. BROWN, D. COSTA, McNEILL, LONGIETTI AND READSHAW,
MAY 11, 2017
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES, MAY 11, 2017
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Congress of the United States to approve the
Synthetic Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, which
would close a dangerous loophole in Federal shipping law that
allows illegal drugs to reach American soil.
WHEREAS, The United States is experiencing a drug overdose
epidemic; and
WHEREAS, More than 33,000 individuals died from synthetic
opioid overdoses in 2015; and
WHEREAS, Heroin overdoses killed nearly 13,000 individuals
across the nation that same year; and
WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, an average of 67 individuals died
every week from drug overdoses, totaling nearly 3,500 overdose
deaths in 2015; and
WHEREAS, The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl can be 40 times
more potent than heroin, with only a pinch needed to be lethal;
and
WHEREAS, The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
Commission found that the majority of fentanyl is created in
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Chinese laboratories and shipped to the United States via the
United States Postal Service; and
WHEREAS, Unlike private parcel carriers, the United States
Postal Service does not require electronic customs data to be
sent in advance for postal shipments arriving from foreign
countries; and
WHEREAS, Advance customs data would provide United States
Customs and Border Protection personnel with crucial information
about a package's origin, destination and contents, better
enabling customs agents and Drug Enforcement Administration
officials to seize packages of illegal drugs; and
WHEREAS, An estimated 340 million packages enter the United
States without this data each year; and
WHEREAS, The Synthetic Trafficking and Overdose Prevention
Act would require postal shipments from foreign countries to
provide that vital customs data in advance; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the Congress of the United
States to approve the Synthetic Trafficking and Overdose
Prevention Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
the President of the United States, the presiding officers of
each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania.
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