Spanberger Helps Introduce Bipartisan Effort to Crack Down on Chemicals Used to Manufacture Illicit Drugs

The “DISPOSE Act” Would Improve U.S. Collaboration with Latin & South American Partner Countries to Destroy Precursor Chemical Seized by Law Enforcement Officers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger today helped introduce bipartisan legislation to strengthen efforts to destroy precursor chemicals and keep illicit drugs out of American communities.

Precursor chemicals are substances used to manufacture illicit drugs, like fentanyl. Most of the fentanyl in the United States is trafficked by Mexican cartels and drug traffickers who synthesize precursor chemicals — largely obtained from China and India — into fentanyl and traffic the drug into the United States. While the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) currently works with Latin American countries to curb the flow of illicit drugs, the United States has a limited view of how much — or how little — other nations are doing to destroy seized precursor chemicals.

The Spanberger-backed Destruction Initiative for Stored Precursors Overseas and Safe Enforcement (DISPOSE) Act would facilitate U.S. collaboration with partner countries — including Mexico, Colombia, and Peru — to destroy seized fentanyl precursor chemicals. Specifically, the bipartisan legislation would direct the U.S. Department of State, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Defense, to create the Precursor Chemical Destruction Initiative. This program would establish benchmarks and reporting requirements for the United States and partner countries to improve and increase rates of precursor seizure and destruction.

“Fentanyl is killing Virginians and Americans across our country at alarming rates — and far too many of our neighbors have found themselves in the throes of addiction. As a former federal law enforcement officer and a former CIA case officer who worked narcotics cases and tracked cartels, I’ve seen firsthand how criminals manufacture and traffic illicit substances into the United States,” said Spanberger. “Our country must do more to attack the source of the fentanyl crisis and stop the illicit drugs flowing across our southern border from Latin America. By better coordinating our strategy to destroy precursor chemicals, this legislation would help keep these substances out of the illicit drug supply chain and out of our communities.”

Specifically, the Precursor Chemical Destruction Initiative created by the DISPOSE Act would set reporting requirements to:

• Improve and increasing rates of seizure and destruction of listed chemicals in beneficiary countries,

• Alleviate the backlog of seized listed chemicals and dispose the hazardous waste generated by illicit drug trafficking in beneficiary countries in an environmentally safe and effective manner,

• Guarantee that seized listed chemicals are not reintroduced into the illicit drug production stream within beneficiary countries,

• Free up storage space for future listed chemical seizures within beneficiary countries, or

• Reduce the negative environmental impact of listed chemicals.

The DISPOSE Act is led in the U.S. House by U.S. Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27). The legislation is led in the U.S. Senate by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Click here for the full bill text.

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