Klobuchar Holds Roundtable on Synthetic Drugs

Press Release

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar today hosted a roundtable on synthetic drugs with U.S. Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske and Minnesota law enforcement leaders. The discussion focused on efforts to curb the sale and use of dangerous synthetic drugs and highlighted how federal, state, and local leaders can work together to solve the problem.

"Synthetic drugs aren't just a danger to the people who use them -- they are a threat to entire communities, and they seriously undermine our efforts to uphold public safety," Klobuchar said. "Tackling this problem will be a team effort. It will take input from all levels of government--local, state, and federal--and it will take the full partnership of the law enforcement community."

Senator Klobuchar has led the effort in U.S. Senate to ban harmful chemicals in synthetic drugs that have taken lives -- including the life of a Minnesotan -- and injured many others. Klobuchar's introduced legislation, the Combating Designer Drugs Act of 2011, bans the substance known as 2C-E, a synthetic hallucinogen, and eight other similar substances. Klobuchar introduced the legislation this past March after a Minnesota teenager died and ten others were hospitalized due to an overdose of 2C-E.

Klobuchar is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which has jurisdiction over issues relating to drug control policy, and she has been a leader in strengthening drug safety standards to protect consumers.

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