Rep. Angie Craig, Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduce bill to prevent fentanyl trafficking on social media
HASTINGS, Minn. — Rep. Angie Craig and Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Tuesday morning touted a bill they're sponsoring in Congress aimed at cracking down on fentanyl trafficking on social media platforms, a pathway for young people to get access to the deadly drug.
Klobuchar introduced the Senate version of the bill last year, which has since passed through the judiciary committee and will head to the floor.
The legislation is an effort to curb the opioid epidemic, especially among young people. One third of nationwide fentanyl cases in a recent five-month period have involved social media, and in Minnesota, opioid-related deaths have more than doubled in the last five years. State data says 92% of those cases involve fentanyl.
Law enforcement leaders say that big tech companies make it difficult for them to prosecute cases as sites add encryption services that protect users even when they have a search warrant.
The bill that Craig introduced will require platforms to report drug sales to police. Criminal and civil penalties are also on the line if a site reports false or fraudulent information required by the bill.
"Congress needs to take this into their own hands and force these tech platforms to get these drug dealers out of the hands of our young people across our community," Craig said.
The two lawmakers were joined Tuesday by Bridgette Norring of Hastings, whose 19-year-old son Devin died in April of 2020 from an overdose. In an interview with WCCO, Norring said her son had a cracked molar and migraines, but pandemic lockdowns canceled his dental appointments. His friend said he could help him find a painkiller.
The Percocet that Devin Norring bought was purchased on Snapchat, and turned out to be 100% fentanyl. Since then, Bridgette Norring has dedicated her efforts to increasing awareness about fentanyl and has worked to make harm reduction tools like Narcan more accessible.
"We wondered every day for four years if there was something we could have done differently," Bridgette Norring said. "In the years since Devin passed, nothing has changed."
The new legislation will be named for Devin Norring, as well as Cooper Davis, a Kansas teenager who was killed from fentanyl he bought on Snapchat.
In the last 18 months in Hastings, the community saw five drug overdose-related deaths, according to Hastings police Chief David Wilske. Police in Rochester seized 7,000 fentanyl pills last month, and earlier this year, officials seized 30,000 grams of fentanyl when they busted a Twin Cities drug ring. It was the largest fentanyl bust in Minnesota history with enough dosage to kill everyone in Minnesota twice over.
Last year, state lawmakers allocated more than $200 million to address substance abuse and the opioid crisis, aimed towards prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. This year, the Minnesota Department of Health will give several million dollars in grants for opioid overdose prevention.
Note: The above video first aired on Sept. 20, 2023.
