President Donald Trump signed the “Stop Fentanyl Act” on Wednesday, a law aimed at combating the substance. It toughens penalties for those who traffic it, establishing a minimum sentence of ten years in prison.
“It means that anyone caught trafficking these illicit poisons will be punished with a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison,” the White House resident emphasized at an event attended by several family members of victims of fentanyl and other drugs.
The law permanently classifies fentanyl-related substances, including synthetic mimic versions of the drug, as Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, giving authorities greater powers to combat its spread.
“For years, the monsters who manufacture illicit fentanyl have tried to circumvent legal restrictions by making small variations of the chemical compound,” he noted, denouncing that “in the process, they have developed even more toxic versions of the drug, a common variant known as carfentanil (…) that is 100 times more potent.” “Starting today, all substances related to fentanyl will be banned forever, and those who traffic these deadly poisons will be imprisoned for a very long time,” he stressed.
Furthermore, the US president boasted that the new law “inflicts another defeat on the savage drug traffickers, criminals, and cartels,” who, he asserted, “have tremendous control over Mexico.”
“We are going to remove the traffickers, drug dealers, and street vendors from our streets, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic,” he promised amid criticism of the border and anti-drug policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden, whom he criticized for allowing “an invasion” that was barely defeated, he said, by the Trump administration and the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol.
On the other hand, Trump boasted of his “very good relationship with President Xi (Jinping) of China,” despite the fact that in April he imposed a 20 percent tariff on the Asian giant in what he described on Wednesday as “a sanction because China supplies much of the fentanyl.” “Some would say everything. They supply it to Mexico and even to our own country,” he added.
“This is how they’re paying billions of dollars in damages for what they’ve done. And I think we’re going to resolve this so that China eventually moves from that to applying the death penalty to the people who create this fentanyl and send it to our country, whether through other countries or directly,” the US president stressed.
