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Johnson Announces Senate Passage of Resolution Targeting Drug Cartels

December 11, 2019
Terry Johnson News
 
COLUMBUS—State Senator Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) today announced the Senate unanimously passed House Concurrent Resolution 10.

The resolution urges Congress to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in order to allow the federal government to use the appropriate means to mitigate and eliminate such operations. These cartels funnel vast amounts of deadly heroin and fentanyl into America each year and fuel the opioid crisis across the country.

“There should be no doubt in our minds that drug cartels are enemies of the people of the United States of America, and that the evil actions they bring upon our communities are terroristic in the most literal sense," said Johnson. "It is long past time that we formally recognized these facts, and the full resources of our nation should be brought to bear against them. I proudly cosponsor this resolution.” 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.