Bipartisan Bill Introduced in Senate to Expand Controlled Substance List
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., along with two other Republicans and another Democrat, recently reintroduced the Stop Importation and Manufacturing of Synthetic Analogues (SIMSA) Act.
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The bill would tackle opiate analogues, new chemicals that produce the same effects but are not technically controlled substances. Congress has been trying to address the weakness in import restrictions in the House since 2017 (see 1706280022) and Grassley has tried to pass such a bill since 2019.
"International drug traffickers are taking advantage of a gap in our laws. This has created a lethal game of ‘whack-a-mole.’ The SIMSA Act sends an explicit message the U.S. is done playing," Grassley said in a press release announcing the bill's introduction.
Co-sponsor Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., noted that fentanyl and its analogues were involved in 76% of her state's overdoses in the most recent data available.
"These deadly substances are flowing into our communities from China and across our southern border, and criminals know that they can get around existing law by slightly changing the chemical makeup of a drug while still having the same negative effect on the human body," she said.
Under current law, the Drug Enforcement Administration must do an analysis of new molecules before they can be permanently scheduled.
Back in 2017, CBP Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Robert Perez told a House Judiciary Committee panel that if a similar bill became law, it would help CBP track narcotics entering the U.S. in express shipments.