U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Requests European Union Support to Combat the Fentanyl Crisis

Press Release

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and a group of 16 Senators in a letter asking the European Commission to support action at the United Nations to regulate precursor chemicals of fentanyl and help curb the manufacturing and trafficking of the synthetic opioid.

"We write to request the European Commission's assistance in addressing a significant aspect of the opioid epidemic that is killing Americans at alarming rates," the Senators wrote in their letter to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Junker.

Fentanyl, which is often mixed with heroin, has been linked to 95 deaths in Milwaukee County in 2016. This is more than triple the number of fentanyl deaths in 2015 and a 493.7% increase since 2011. N-Phenethyl-4-piperidinone (NPP) and 4-anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine (ANPP) are the two precursor chemicals under consideration by the CND, the UN body which is empowered to regulate precursor chemicals. Of the 54 members of the CND, EU member states make up the largest voting bloc.

In the letter, the Senators encourage the European Commission to vote in favor of designating the precursor chemicals of fentanyl as Table 1 substances under the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances when the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meets in Vienna in March.

"The unregulated purchase of NPP and ANPP is perfectly consistent with current international law because these chemicals are not currently controlled under international drug treaties... without collective international action it will be difficult to control international manufacture, distribution and sales of NPP and ANPP, and as a result will frustrate efforts to curb manufacturing and trafficking of illicit fentanyl," the Senators wrote. "We would greatly appreciate support from the European Commission for the U.S. request to designate NPP and ANPP as Table I substances when it is considered at the March CND meeting in Vienna."

The letter was also signed by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Angus King (I-ME), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

In October 2016, Senator Baldwin and a group of 14 senators sent a letter to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which oversees implementation of the UN drug conventions, requesting the INCB recommend adding NPP and ANPP to the list of Table I substances.

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