WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called for larger penalties for drug smugglers and stricter controls on pill presses and importers on Wednesday as part of new steps to deal with the U.S. opioid crisis, according to a senior administration official.
The efforts come as illicit fentanyl remains a potent issue for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is poised to clinch the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 5 election. Fentanyl overdoses have surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 and over 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2023.
The lethal narcotic is trafficked into the United States, often across the porous U.S.-Mexico border, and easily manufactured from chemicals sourced in China.
Biden said he was directing federal agencies to do more on collecting intelligence, coordination to disrupt trafficking and working with the private sector on counter-narcotics, according to the official, who declined to be named.
He will also ask Congress to pass legislation to create a nationwide registry of pill press machinery that could be used to produce the drugs, raise penalties on traffickers, regulate some fentanyl-related substances more stringently and require importers of small packages to provide more information to customs officials.