RENO, NV – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) hosted a roundtable discussion about the fentanyl crisis with Reno Police Chief Kathryn Nance, Reno Fire Chief David Cochran, and Darcy Patterson – a local advocate and mother who tragically lost her daughter to an opioid overdose. Last week, Senator Rosen’s bipartisan Eradicating Narcotic Drugs and Formulating Effective New Tools to Address National Yearly Losses of Life (END FENTANYL) Act was signed into law, which will help crack down on drug smuggling by requiring the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to update its drug interdiction guidance at least once every three years to ensure it is up to date. Currently, many CBP policies that outline drug interdiction practices are outdated and do not provide guidance on how to handle drugs like fentanyl.
“Today in Reno, I sat down with Police Chief Nance, Fire Chief Cochran, and Darcy Patterson – a local advocate & mom who lost her daughter to an overdose – to hear firsthand how the fentanyl crisis continues hurting our communities,” said Senator Rosen. “Most of the illicit fentanyl produced abroad is smuggled into the U.S. through the southern border, and I’m working across the aisle to secure the border and stop the flow of these illegal drugs.”
“With the rise of fentanyl related deaths and overdoses in our community, we are appreciative of the ongoing efforts to help combat the significant problem we face,” said Kathryn Nance, Chief of the Reno Police Department. “Thank you to Senator Rosen for leading the charge to make us all safer.”
“Every day in Nevada there are two deaths related to overdose,” said Darcy Patterson, founder of Wake Up Nevada. “This may be substance users and first time consumers. Fentanyl has changed the landscape of how and why we protect our communities from these deaths and the collateral damage this is incurred. Wake Up Nevada is aiming to save these lives with education, prevention, and harm reduction.”
Senator Rosen has consistently pushed for commonsense measures to secure the border and stop the flow of fentanyl. In addition to successfully getting her END FENTANYL Act signed into law, she voted in favor of passing the bipartisan border security deal to invest more than $20 billion to secure the border, get law enforcement the resources they need, and combat the fentanyl crisis. Senator Rosen has also called on the Biden administration to prioritize additional resources to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl through ports of entry along the border, pushed for increased resources to support border personnel, and voted to advance legislation to provide nearly $14 billion in funding to strengthen border security and humanely process migrants.
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