In light of local treatment facilities reporting opiate and heroin overdoses are up 480 percent in Buffalo, today Senator Schumer will visit at Kids Escaping Drugs in Buffalo to launch his push to stem the tide of cross-border drug trafficking, which is a major source of heroin and opioid drugs in the community. Schumer is urging the House of Representatives immediately pass a bill, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act, which could help halt the dramatic increase in opiate and heroin overdoses in Buffalo by making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute drug traffickers who shuttle drugs over the border into Buffalo.
"With heroin- and opiate-related deaths and overdoses skyrocketing in Western New York, it is clear that much more needs to be done to turn the tide against this scourge, which is threatening to tear apart families and communities across Upstate," said Schumer. "That is why I am urging my colleagues in the House to take the Senate's lead and quickly pass the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act, which will give the Department of Justice stronger tools to go after these international traffickers abroad and stop the flow of these poisons into the U.S."