WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Chuck Grassley and their colleagues on a resolution designating April 29, 2025 as National Fentanyl Awareness Day to further raise awareness about the dangers posed by fentanyl to American families and communities, and the need to take action to combat this heartbreaking crisis.

Senator Rick Scott said, “I am proud to join my Senate colleagues in recognizing April 29, 2025 as National Fentanyl Awareness Day. The fentanyl crisis is felt in every community across the nation as fentanyl and other opioids, trafficked by dangerous cartels, continue to devastate families and take countless American lives. Over the past decade, we have tragically lost hundreds of thousands of American lives to drug overdoses and too many of us have lost loved ones. I will continue to work closely with President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, my colleagues in the Senate, and partners on every level to fight this heartbreaking epidemic and raise awareness. Every overdose is preventable, and together, we can make a difference in the fight against this crisis.”

In 2024, Senator Scott’s bipartisan END FENTANYL Act was signed into law in an effort to expose how far behind parts of the federal government were when it came to fighting the opioid epidemic and putting a stop to the deadly fentanyl crisis killing thousands of Americans every year. The Senator has also introduced a number of bills aimed at further tackling this crisis:

• Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act:
• Would require the Office of National Drug Control Policy to produce and implement a strategy focused on preventing the illegal trafficking of drugs from the Caribbean region into the United States, particularly relating to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Continuing High-Quality Evaluations of Concerning and Known Persons of Interest through National Training Updates (CHECKPOINT) Act:
• Requires regular updates to internal secondary internal border checkpoints’ drug seizure data categories, establish a Southern Border Intelligence Center to develop an understanding of the threat along the southern border, and ensure that the Checkpoint Management Office at U.S. Border Patrol remains consistently staffed.
• Overcoming Prevalent Inadequacies in Overdose Information Data Sets (OPIOIDS) Act:
• Will allow for better data collection from law enforcement agencies, grants to contain suspected narcotics and upgrade essential testing and tracing systems, and increased collaboration between the Office of National Drug Control Policy and other federal and state agencies.
• Overdose Response Action Data And Reforms (RADAR) Act:
• This bill will allow for additional grants to support improved data and surveillance efforts related to opioid overdoses, will reform the ONDCP's role as a Cabinet-level position and will improve interagency collaboration, and adds fentanyl test strips to the list of excluded materials in the drug paraphernalia category of the Controlled Substances Act.
• Stopping Online Confusion for Investigative Agencies and Law-Enforcement by Maintaining Evidence Determined Interparty Arrangements (SOCIAL MEDIA) Act:
• Aimed at combating the sale of fentanyl and other illicit drugs on social media platforms with better law enforcement coordination in criminal cases with social media platforms by requiring 24/7 staffed-in-the-U.S. call centers for fielding information requests with clear guidelines for agencies to best expedite the process. This bill will additionally promote enhanced data collection, transparency and uniformity in the data collected to better compare platform to platform on their efforts to combat illegal drug sales.

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