[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5546 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5546

    To authorize the use of certain Department of Defense funds for 
      combating opioid trafficking and abuse in the United States.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 18, 2018

  Mr. Knight introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

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                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the use of certain Department of Defense funds for 
      combating opioid trafficking and abuse in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Over the past 15 years, the rise in opioid use in the 
        United States has grown exponentially.
            (2) According to the Office of National Drug Control 
        Policy, the number of deaths related to opioids in the United 
        States in 2016 was 42,269.
            (3) Addiction and misuse of prescription opioids continues 
        to rise. According to the Office of National Drug Control 
        Policy, in 2016, 11.5 million people misused prescription 
        opioids.
            (4) The predominant amount of precursors for fentanyl 
        production are illicit trafficked from China.
            (5) The Office of National Drug Control Policy is the lead 
        agency for confronting the epidemic of opioid addiction and 
        trafficking in the United States.
            (6) The Department of Homeland Security is the lead agency 
        in securing United States borders from illicit trafficking.
            (7) The Department of Defense plays a vital supporting role 
        in addressing the illicit nature of the opioid epidemic through 
        intelligence analysis, education, and assistance to other 
        departments and agencies in dealing with this challenge.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Department of Defense should provide support for 
        interagency efforts to combat the national opioid epidemic; and
            (2) the role of the Department of Defense is critical to 
        identifying transnational criminal organizations that allow 
        illicit opioids to enter the United States.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SUPPORT FOR COMBATING OPIOID TRAFFICKING 
              AND ABUSE.

    Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Department of 
Defense for National Guard counterdrug programs for fiscal year 2019, 
$20,000,000 may be used to provide support for United States 
interagency efforts to combat opioid trafficking and abuse in the 
United States.
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