Dear Representatives Craig and Miller-Meeks,
I am writing on behalf of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police to advise you of our support for H.R. 8918, the “Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act.”
The bill is named after 16-year-old Cooper Davis from Johnson County, Kansas and 19-year-old Devin Norring from Hastings, Minnesota. Both teenagers died of fentanyl poisoning after purchasing what they thought were Percocet pills on Snapchat. The pills were laced with illicit fentanyl.
Fentanyl is currently the most dangerous drug threat facing Americans. Between April 2021 and February 2022, approximately 100,000 Americans died, like Cooper and Devin did, from an overdose of fentanyl, many hidden in fake prescriptions or other drugs. Fentanyl trafficking in the United States is dominated by transnational criminal organizations which have established large, sophisticated distribution networks online through social media. Fatal overdoses and poisonings are growing fastest among 14–23-year-olds. Investigations into these deaths have found that this deadly drug is accessed through social media platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat. Currently, Federal agencies do not have reliable data on the presence of drug dealers on these platforms to intervene and prevent fentanyl’s availability.
The legislation you have introduced would require social media providers to report all suspected illicit drug activity occurring on their platforms to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). This requirement, which is supported by the DEA, will provide additional information to assist law enforcement’s efforts to arrest, prosecute, and convict the drug dealers that are devastating so many of our communities.
On behalf of the more than 373,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police, I thank you both for your leadership on this issue. If I can be of any help or provide additional information in support of this legislation, please do not hesitate to contact me or Executive Director Jim Pasco in our Washington, D.C. office.
Sincerely,
Patrick Yoes
National President