During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about the HALT Fentanyl Act.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The second point I'd like to make is on the Halt Fentanyl Bill, which is coming before us.
00:05I'm going to vote for it. It extends the classification of fentanyl-type drugs as Schedule I drugs,
00:15the most serious narcotics in our country.
00:18I do say this. What we are doing is extending current policy.
00:23There is no new approach in this bill.
00:26It was reported out of committee virtually as it passed the House,
00:30and any effort in the committee, Judiciary Committee, to make it stronger or better was turned back
00:37with the argument we can't change a word, we have to accept the current language.
00:41As Senator Booker of New Jersey has said on the floor, and I've heard him,
00:45unfortunately saying that we can't change a word means the policies of today must continue indefinitely.
00:51I think that's a mistake. We need to consider several other elements that could help us fight these cartels
00:58and stop fentanyl, which is taking so many American lives.
01:02Let me give you a couple examples.
01:05Number one, the President had thunderous applause when he suggested that he was designating the cartels in Mexico
01:12as terrorist agents. I applaud him along with the rest of the people in the chamber.
01:19But I wonder if we are seriously, as a nation, treating the cartels as terrorist agents.
01:25And here's why I raise the question.
01:27One of the major complaints in Mexico is the fact that the cartels are heavily armed,
01:33sometimes more heavily armed than the Mexican military and law enforcement forces.
01:39And they are heavily armed with weapons provided by the United States.
01:44High-powered rifles that we are sending in volume down to the cartel members to fight the government of Mexico
01:50and spread their deadly product into the United States and beyond.
01:54If we seriously believe the cartels are a terrorist group, what in the world are American gun manufacturers doing
02:00supplying them with the arms that they can stop the reach of the law and military forces in Mexico?
02:08Are they terrorists or are they customers?
02:11If they're just customers, then I don't understand this bragging about designating them as terrorists.
02:17Let's treat them as terrorists and let's stop the flow of deadly weapons from the United States to the Mexican drug cartels.
02:24Secondly, 80% of the drugs that end up in the hands of our children in America are there because of the Internet.
02:34Kids have access to buying drugs.
02:36Senator from Wyoming gave a good, poignant illustration of that in referring to a recent hearing we held.
02:43A 16-year-old thinking he was buying some form of OxyContin ended up buying fentanyl and dying as a result of it.
02:52Why in the world aren't these social media sources and Internet sources being held responsible?
02:58Why don't we pass laws now saying that they cannot develop the end product for these cartels to sell to our children in a deadly fashion?
03:09If they're truly terrorists, let's treat them as such.
03:12And those who are complicit in the terrorist strategy of poisoning our youth should be held accountable.