Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, spoke Wednesday afternoon in Lima about the FEND Off Fentanyl Act.
LIMA — Sen. Sherrod Brown said he found it hard to talk to anyone who has not been affected by the fentanyl crisis in Ohio.
The Ohio Democrat stopped in Lima Wednesday afternoon, as part of a tour of the state, to share information about the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, a bipartisan law he sponsored to expand sanctions to both the traffickers of the dangerous opioid and the creators of the chemicals used to make it.
“It helps local police and it targets it coming across the border,” Brown said to an audience at the Cambridge Center. “One of the most effective ways to hurt the trade is to go after the money the cartels are making from this. Our bill does a number of things like blocking and freezing the assets of traffickers, allowing the Treasury Department to combat fentanyl-related money laundering and requiring the department to prioritize suspicious transactions related to fentanyl.”
Katie Walker, the clinical director for the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Allen, Auglaize and Hardin Counties, thanked Brown and said local communities had seen a decline in drug overdose deaths before the fentanyl epidemic started around 2018 thanks to community hubs and a new approach to addiction.
“We know it is dangerous and lethal and it hurts a lot of people unknowingly,” she said. “We’re working with Project DAWN and EMS and we’re continuing to look for creative approaches to eliminate these life-threatening drugs from our community.”
Lima UMADAOP CEO Marcell King shared a story of a relative who died after smoking marijuana laced with fentanyl and related it to his work at the Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program.
“Watching families struggle and individuals pass away is hard,” he said. “Sen. Brown’s work is greatly appreciated.”
Brown praised the efforts of the musical artist Jellyroll for his testimony in Congress about the epidemic and related it to the legalization of cannabis, something that took effect in Ohio yesterday.
“Jellyroll is a hero and he sat next to the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police and they had a lot in common talking about what they have seen from addiction,” he said. “I think a lot of people in Ohio think that legalizing marijuana means you can regulate it better and people in children’s hospitals have told me that regulating the packaging so people aren’t deceived helps. But it’s an age-old problem, fighting addiction, whether it’s heroin, meth, alcohol or fentanyl, and it will be an ongoing battle for our whole lives so we’ve got to win it more often than we do.”
Brown called out cartels for trafficking children and financing terrorism and the People’s Republic of China for profiting from the chemicals that create fentanyl, but he also called on the U.S. government to keep pressure on the rival world power.
“Presidents of both parties have failed at engaging with China to keep this stuff out,” he said. “There are lots of people including the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government making money from these precursor chemicals so we have to keep pressure on them. Part of that pressure is diplomatic and it means punishing the people making money from this.”
National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett announced (bit.ly/3LWAGID) Monday the People’s Republic would schedule three of the chemicals for additional regulation and control.
The White House said it was the third significant scheduling action by China since President Bident met with President Xi Jinping in November 2023.
For more information on the bill, which Biden signed into law April 24, visit bit.ly/3Ag5odg.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
