Committee hears sponsor testimony urging Congress to designate illicit fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction

Senator Johnson provided sponsor testimony May 7 before the Ohio Senate Community Revitalization Committee urging Congress to designate illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction and asking the Senate to endorse the federal Stop Our Scourge Act of 2023 (H.R. 3666).

"Fentanyl has remained at the forefront. It is 50 times more potent than heroin, 100 times more potent than morphine, and is frequently laced, into other counterfeit or illicit substances," Senator Johnson told committee members. She said "Only 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be, a fatal dose. And 1 kilogram of fentanyl, is has a potential to kill 500,000 people." She also said that, of the roughly 70,000 Americans who died in a year referenced in her testimony, "4,000 of those people were Ohioans."

Johnson framed illicit fentanyl as a national-security and public-safety threat and cited the 2002 Moscow theater hostage incident and a comment by former acting CIA director Michael Morell describing carfentanil as "a perfect terrorist weapon." She told the committee she supports H.R. 3666, the Stop Our Scourge Act of 2023, because it would designate illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction at the federal level.

Committee members asked questions about other designations and the supply chain. Vice Chair Senator Chavez asked whether other agents such as anthrax have been given weapons-of-mass-destruction distinctions; Johnson replied that biological weapons were addressed historically and that chemical agents are in a different category. Chairman Landis and other members asked how fentanyl is entering the country; Senator Johnson described a supply chain she said involves precursors exported from China, trafficking through ports in Mexico and cooperation with cartels to synthesize and smuggle finished fentanyl and counterfeit pills into the United States. She also described the dark web as a marketplace for illicit purchases.

The committee held the first hearing for Senate Resolution 251 as sponsor testimony; no committee vote on the resolution was recorded. The chairman closed the first hearing after questions and no further business was taken on the resolution during this session.