Sec. 2. FINDINGS

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## SEC. 2 FINDINGS The Congress finds the following: ####

(1)According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United States died from drug overdoses or drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending January 2022, with 67 percent of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. ####

(2)According to the United National Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its “Synthetic Drug Strategy 2021-2025”, the number of synthetic drugs, also called New Psychoactive Substances, has increased 631 percent since 2009, with traffickers introducing an average of 80 new substances to the illicit drug market each year from 2009-2019. ####

(3)In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, director of the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HITDA) program testified in Congress that one kilogram of fentanyl can produce one million counterfeit pills containing one milligram of fentanyl, saying, “Currently in Houston, Texas, you can buy a kilogram of fentanyl for an average price of $25,000 to $30,000. This same kilogram of fentanyl in Culiacán (Mexico) could be purchased at an average price of $13,500. Currently, the price of a fentanyl pill in Houston ranges from $6 to $65. Therefore, an illicit investment of $30,000 or less could result in a return of $6 to $32.5 million.”. ####

(4)According to Celina B. Realuyo, Adjunct Professor, The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, in March 2022 Congressional testimony, “Financing is essential to support and sustain the command and control, personnel, arms, communications, logistics and operations of organized crime groups. For this reason, following the money trail and depriving criminals of illicit financial flows can disrupt and disable these networks.”.