By Ben Feibert | Updated June 20, 2023 | Source: LI Herald

United State Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced legislation that will tackle fentanyl, which was involved in 70 pecent  of overdose deaths in Nassau County in 2021.

The proposed bill, which was announced earlier  at the Nassau County Police Department Center on June 20, has bipartisan support. Gillibrand was joined by County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, County Executive Bruce Blakeman, District Attorney Anne Donnelly, Carole Trottere, , a Long Island advocate of the measure and Executive Director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Steve Chassman. They all addressed the importance of this piece of legislation and how it could fend off fentanyl overdoses.

“No community has been left untouched by the deadly impacts of silent killers like fentanyl, including Long Island,” Gillibrand said. “Just last year, the DEA seized enough deadly doses of fentanyl in New York for more than three times the state’s population.”

The bill, which is called the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, would target both cartels, as well as individuals involved in producing and trafficking drugs into the United States. The legislation will “better empower” the government to sanction drug traffickers and combat money laundering schemes that make this trade profitable, Gillibrand said

“We have lost far too many lives to fentanyl overdoses,” she said. “And I am committed to working with my colleagues in Congress to keep our communities safe from deadly synthetic opioids.”