Roegner Announces Senate Passage of Resolution Targeting Drug Cartels

COLUMBUS—State Senator Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) today announced the Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 10. The resolution urges Congress to classify foreign drug cartels as terrorist organizations. These cartels funnel vast amounts of deadly heroin and fentanyl into America each year and fuel the opioid crisis across the country. “Earlier this year we heard about law enforcement seizing enough fentanyl to kill three million people—all of it headed straight for Ohio. We know who’s responsible. It’s time the federal government pursues the cartels to the fullest extent of the law,” said Roegner. From 2013-2018, more than 10,000 Ohioans died after overdosing on fentanyl or carfentanil, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s 2018 Drug Overdose Report. The acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration has stated that a vast majority of these deadly drugs were brought into the nation by foreign drug cartels. Classifying these cartels as terrorists will enable the U.S. government to more aggressively pursue them through intelligence operations, financial sanctions, prosecuting allies and enablers, or military action if necessary. “Too many Ohioans die from lethal synthetic opioids smuggled in by the cartels,” said Roegner. “We need to stop this source of poison from flowing into our communities.”