Central Georgia News

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga.) delivered a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to sound the alarm on the deadly drugs flooding communities across America and putting law enforcement officers at great personal risk. In the address, Collins urged his colleagues to take up the Senate's amended version of H.R. 1734, the TRANQ Research Act. Collins' bill, which passed the House unanimously in May of this year, directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide up-to-date research on the detection and handling of the newest, most dangerous synthetic opioids. Detection capabilities will extend to law enforcement and other first responders so they are better equipped to stem the flow of deadly drugs into the United States.

To watch Representative Collins' Floor speech, please visit the link here. 

Key Excerpts

"So far in Fiscal Year 2023, Border Patrol intercepted 20,000 pounds of fentanyl—enough to kill 4.6 billion people."

"Zylazine, also called TRANQ or the 'Zombie Drug,' is a veterinary tranquilizer and fentanyl analog that is wreaking havoc on American communities and putting law enforcement officers at risk."

"Our federal and local law enforcement officers are working hard to keep our communities safe at great personal risk and they need the tools to identify these drugs in order to safely encounter them in the field."

Background

H.R. 1734, the Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to deepen its partnerships and strategically focus on the science needed to detect, identify, and better understand synthetic opioids.

The TRANQ Research Act is Representative Mike Collins’ (R-Ga.) first bill to pass the House. 

Xylazine (‘Tranq’), a veterinary tranquilizer and fentanyl analog, has become known as the ‘Zombie Drug’ for its necrotizing effects and resistance to the usual opioid overdose treatments. According to the DEA, over the past two years, the Southern and Western U.S. have experienced an over 100% increase in Xylazine detection.

Original source can be found here.