Arkansas Democrat Gazette - State Fighting Opioid Scourge

Op-Ed

By: Tom Cotton and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge

"As the opioid crisis continues to grow in size and complexity, Arkansas has taken proactive measures to protect her citizens from this lethal and tragic addiction. It will take efforts across every level of government to bring an end to the opioid problem, and we are proud that Arkansas is on the front lines of this battle with a multifaceted approach that involves proper disposal of medications, litigation against manufacturers who have misled patients, and cracking down on drug traffickers who destroy our communities...

Today, our federal drug penalties are antiquated and too limited to be effective. Under current law, you can serve less than five years in prison for having up to 40 grams of fentanyl. Despite the small quantity, 40 grams is powerful enough to kill 20,000 people. This is why the bill Senator Cotton has proposed would lower the threshold for the mandatory-minimum sentence to two grams. The people who profit off the spread of addiction should get the punishment they deserve.

Senator Cotton's bill would also take active steps to interdict shipments of fentanyl before they make it to Arkansas. Most of the fentanyl used in the United States comes from China, and what's particularly galling is drug traffickers use our own Postal Service to deliver shipments in the mail. Senator Cotton's bill would give the Postal Service more resources to shut down this abuse of our mail system and stop these drugs from ever getting into our communities.

We must all do everything in our power to protect the citizens of our great state."

Source