Transcripts For CSPAN2 Senate Panel Looks At Stopping Flow O

Individual, went back to the Police Station and noticed on his shirt was some powder. He brushed the powder off the shirt, he is 6 foot 3, 225 pounds am a big man, he fell to the floor unconscious from overdose. They administered antidote immediately but it wasnt enough, rushed him to the hospital where two more doses were administered and luckily his life was saved. He would have died had he been alone. What if he had gone home with that power on his shirt and hugged his kid . That is just an example of what we are facing. Obviously a devastating to our communities and families but also creating quite a danger for Law Enforcement and First Responders. Sentinel is 35 to 50 times more powerful than heroin, a lethal dose to of 20 mg, we were able to show a tiny amount of fenton all can be deadly and we know about other synthetic drugs, this is getting worse as i said, the number of overdoses and deaths have increased dramatically, the director of National Intelligence included synthetic opioid in his worldwide threat assessment and noted in his comments the deaths have increased 70 from 2014 to 2015, sadly the death toll continues to climb and we will hear about that this morning. In one county in ohio fentanyl was responsible for Overdose Deaths in 2016, in one county. Tom gilson, the medical examiner will tell you he is projecting 581 fentanyl related deaths. Fentanyl is the biggest killer. And leaving the user with an example. Called gray death which includes a mixture of heroin, fentanyl, heroin is the weakest drug. This is available on the street, by 10 to 20. Even though these drugs are selling expensively fentanyl has a high profit margin making available to the drug dealer, estimates a kilogram of fentanyl can be purchased for a few thousand dollars a kilogram for 2000 to be used to make hundreds or thousands of pills which profit in the millions. We need to stop this flow of illegal illicit fentanyl and it comes from the us mail system. This is a shock to many of my constituents and others learning about this. Some of this fentanyl is smuggled into the United States from mexico and canada primarily it comes in the United States and according to Law Enforcement, some folks will tell us about this, it comes from one place which is china, produced in laboratories there and understanding from Law Enforcement is most of that fentanyl is intended for export to one place, the United States of america. A number of chinese websites ready to ship. Do a google search, it produces a number of websites where the drug is available and one website, 250, the more you buy the less you pay, discounts for larger volumes. To ease concern whether the purchaser would receive his or the website guarantees discrete human, quote, with undetectable packaging. While sherman was available in a number of countries the website new its audience had often express delivery to the United States. Many of these websites are so sure their seizure will not be stopped by Law Enforcement that they guarantee you if it gets lost or seized they will send another one for free. Several websites we reviewed made clear they exclusively used express mail service as their career. Ems is the International Postal service offered by members of the universal postal union delivered through ems, past the United States Postal Service as they enter the United States. Our shared goal is to stop these drugs from exploiting our own streams of mail into our country and every member has been involved in this issue on prevention and education, treatment and recovery. We passed new legislative initiatives in the last year, focused on this issue. We understand it is broader. Following 9 11 congress identified weaknesses in International Shipping standards as a significant problem making clear advanced electronic data would make the country safer. This was 15 years ago. When congress legislated, it left a gaping loophole. The trade act of 2002 mandated commercial carriers provide electronic data that could be used to identify certain packages making shipment to the United States. And the 2002 Legislation Congress asked the secretary of Homeland Security and postmaster general to decide if the Postal Service should be subject to the same requirements they are putting in place for private carriers. To date no determination has made in the country is less safe as a result. The difference between information, private commercial carriers provide is very different from the Postal Service. They serve the same function delivering packages into our communities. The same time the Postal Service has higher volume of International Packages and commercial carriers. Prior to arriving in the United States they will provide data to Law Enforcement including customs and Border Protection, name and address of the person receiving the package, discussion of the contents, the value of the context, this information is transmitted to customs and Border Protection at 47 agencies. Based on this information cpb targets shipments for additional scrutiny and select packages it wonts to inspect in the United States. Commercial carriers, one dollar per package which most commercial carriers has to the shipper. And handled hundreds of thousands every day. And International Service centers at jfk airport receiving overwhelming majority in the packages. How this packages is different from these centers. Cpb, packages or shipment it wants to inspect, in the postal office, locating this package and prevents them to cpb. It isnt that easy. Due to the hundreds of thousands packages the Postal Service left to sort through large shipments, what cpb is looking for. And the postal union to attach to them. The description of contents, information is not electronic. It is not useful to Law Enforcement. It will require member countries to place a barcode on every passage in 2018. That is fine but shipper is not required to load any electronic information until 2020. Meanwhile we have a crisis. Realistically the target date is closer to 2022 or so with no guarantee it will happen by then. For 15 years the Postal Service has been on notice with a need to collect advanced electronic data. We cant wait any longer. As americans are dying every day from these drugs flowing into our country we must act. We got to stop this fentanyl and other synthetics from coming and. The Postal Service is trying to use electronic information at jfk to identify these packages to Pilot Programs, Postal Service providing electronic data for packages that way less than 4. 4 pounds. Once the Postal Service shares the information cpb uses the information to identify the packages it wants to inspect. Postal service locates and presents these selected packages for inspection, this is a step in the right direction in my view. After 15 years of not doing this the results are lacking. In 2016 december of 2016 the Inspector General found Postal Service failed to present the packages selected for inspection and substantial number of packages lack any advanced electronic data with it. I understand the Postal Service is taking steps to remedy this issue presenting packages for inspection and look forward to hearing details of that today but without advanced electronic data we continue to miss a significant portion of these packages. The Pilot Program is only happening in one location. The other centers the Postal Service stopped sifting through millions of packages like trying to find a needle in haystack. We need electronic data now. We have been working on a bipartisan way to solve this problem which is why we introduced legislation like stop pack, she will speak in a moment. Advanced information, Postal Service should be providing for International Mail. 16 cosponsors in the senate, eight democrats, eight republicans, separate legislation, companion legislation with 128 bipartisan cosponsors. Our focus is getting impact from the panel of witnesses, a clear understanding from Key Stakeholders as we move forward on this. Thank you very much for being here. Thank my colleagues were being here. I would like to turn to Ranking Member senator carver. We talk about special moments, all hands on deck. For not just those in the senate, through other representatives, all hands on deck moment for our country and we welcome our witnesses. Want to thank the chairman for the good work they have done and others on this committee to get ready for the state. They focus on todays hearing, more ways to use drugs getting into communities and how to stop them. We look forward to hearing from our witnesses to better understand processes used by the coastal service, private shippers to Screen International shipments, for illicit packages. And shippers and federal agencies, how to push forward improvements. And the first line of defense, into the country. And one of the biggest priorities, on this committee. And the linchpin of 1 trillion industry, in of congress does not act for postal reform. Enacting legislation free of billions of dollars, to shore up, to shore up security. And Inbound International package volume has grown significantly in the past three years. In fact it is nearly doubled going from 150 million pieces in 2015 to 275 million pieces in 2016. No question they havent got increased volume in addition to increasing domestic packages, we welcome that but putting a strain on an already stretched resource. Unlike private carriers the Postal Service is required to deliver all mail it receives from foreign posts in a timely manner. This is due to our membership in the universal postal union which sets International Standards and ensures that we can send mail ourselves to friends, family, Business Partners overseas. The state department represent the United States universal postal unions that will be with us today to discuss our involvement in the key organization. And looking to the Postal Service and state Department Witnesses about our commitment to promoting the exchange of economic data, 192 member countries as a means of combating the shipment of drugs and other illegals. Packages are screened initially by cbp before being presented to the Postal Service, it can and often does target additional screening, cvp joined us here today, targeting packages based on the country of origin or scans done by the Postal Service. Recently the Postal Service has been working closely on a Pilot Program that allows them to use advanced electronic data and small packages from china arriving at jfk. Postal Service Provides other countries with advanced electronic data about male originating in the United States. We dont always get the same information from other countries. It is harder to do its job as packages arrive here. The Pilot Program at jfk is a rare exception. I hope we can learn today if there are any recommendations to improve and expand this program. As my colleagues heard me say many time, it works for more of that. Private carriers like ups are joining us today providing advanced electronic data on packages destined for our country. Unlike the Postal Service private carriers have Automated Systems in locations around the world and can refuse to accept a package at origin that does not contain any shipping data manifest data. Learning how this process for illicit drugs can hopefully help us cover the gaps exploited by smugglers. It also i look forward to identifying ways to ensure federal agencies and our state and local partners have the resources they need to combat the Opioid Crisis on the ground. Specifically to hear from our witnesses on the second handle each of whom serve on the front lines of the Opioid Epidemic in various capacities for Law Enforcement to addiction experts and these witnesses will get firsthand perspective on the challenges we face in fighting opioid addiction and a strategy that has proven effective, particularly in delaware, ohio, a discussion of ways to reduce for access of synthetic opioids, we must not lose sight on the need to focus on root causes of the nations considerable demand for drugs not just on symptoms but root causes for considerable demand for drugs. And look at find ways for defenses to block supply of dangerous drugs. Todays Opioid Crisis is the worst in american history. 33,000 americans and n delaware. My home state of delaware has not been immune in none of our states. And unfortunately, in ohio, on this panel. Substance abuse is a complex program for everyone. We cannot Pay Attention to the symptoms of the problem without addressing the underlying cause. We know Overdose Deaths are preventable, we need to provide funding to save lives. And and the Opioid Epidemic, as we know, medicaid is the largest payer of Substance Abuse services, and the treatment, current plans to appeal the Medicaid Expansion program, the Opioid Crisis were says millions be at risk of losing coverage for Substance Abuse Prevention Recovery Services as we need those services the most. Going forward i look forward to working effectively with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to learn what we can do and bring about substantial lasting change, thank you so much. As senator carver noted, one of our colleagues is not on the many, senator klobuchar, coauthor of the stop act, appreciate interest in the topic. Even though she is not a member of the committee, and very nice. Chose to spend your birthday with us. I would like to recognize senator klobuchar, and a brief Opening Statement, another markup she is supposed to be with. If you would make a few remarks. Thank you, it is a celebratory moment with the subcommittee, it was amazing to meet the witnesses out there, i never heard the coroner speak on this but the medical examiner hits home how dangerous this is. We lost prince to fentanyl and that investigation is going on. And in rochester, minnesota, and opioid death on the rise with homicide in the state. Passing this framework, started thinking that way, i think senator portman, and worked in a bipartisan way. And trying to reduce the number of people getting hooked on opioids, from Prescription Drug monitoring that we are trying to get changes in how prescriptions are given out and how many drugs are given out, simple things like wisdom teeth and we did good work with the cures act, i appreciate the leadership on the republican side objecting to the use medicaid cuts we heard from the house and that will be important and the third is people are migrating to the Illegal Drugs, but we are easier to get and we see more of these overdoses from things like fentanyl. We had 11 people die from car fentanyl, the most powerful form of fentanyl. It is more potent than fentanyl, the dose is 5 two grams of salt can be fatal. We heard from customers last week yet the numbers we heard, at two pounds, last year 440 pounds to give a sense of the tremendous increase, the lead democrat on the bill, senator portman and i have the stop act described wealth, it is really important to use modern technology, sophisticated in tracking down these perpetrators as the ones getting our kids hooked and killing people in our country. The second thing i want to mention is the salt act, a bill with senator Lindsey Graham that makes it easier to prosecute these cas