New studies show that the Postal Service is unknowingly aiding the opiate epidemic going on in the United States right now.
Authorities state that packages containing heroin and other opioids are being shipped right to door steps, using the mail systems. Packages that have been intercepted by the USPS have been traced back as far as China and India.
“It comes from our postal system and their postal system into the United States. Unbelievable. This poison is coming in the mail to our communities,” Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said. “It’s easy to do because, unlike private carriers, think UPS and FedEx, in the mail system you can send a package without having any information attached to it. It shouldn’t be that easy, and it doesn’t have to be.”
Congress had recently taken action to help fight the abuse of prescription medication and heroin. A recent rise in the number of opiate related overdoses drew attention to the abuse of synthetic opiates that enter the United States from Mexico, China, and India.
The foreign manufacturers of these drugs are using their countries mail systems to send the regular looking packages to USPS sorting facilities to be inspected by customs and shipped off. The problem being that most of these packages don’t come with any data attacked to them, making it harder for customs to identify illegal shipments before they’re in the system.
Newton, Ohio police chief, Tom Synan stated he got wind of heroin dealers in his area cutting their product with carfentanil. This is used to sedate sizable animals at zoos. This has been directly linked to over 200 overdoses within a week. It’s no wonder, considering it takes less than 2 ML to fully sedate a 2,000-pound elephant.
“This drug has never been intended for humans,” Synan stated.
The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning on Thursday to law enforcement saying that it is often shipped direct from China, and has been linked to a significant number of overdose deaths in various parts of the country.
In hopes of helping, legislation has been written that would force the Treasury to devise regulations requiring advanced electronic data be attacked to packages entering the U.S. postal system.
“The U.S. provides this advanced data information to foreign countries, and our postal system should require it from them. It will strengthen our homeland security and keep dangerous drugs out of America,” a filing of the bill stated.
“We continue to evaluate the bill’s language and share the goal of Sen. Portman and others calling for expanding efforts to keep illicit drugs and other dangerous materials out of the hands of the American public and maintaining the safety of our nation’s mail system,” David Partenheimer, a postal service spokesman said.
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