Latest news with #RepublicanNationalConvention
The Herald Scotland
10 hours ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Trump signs bill to keep tough sentences for fentanyl traffickers
The law places fentanyl on the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of most serious drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The list includes drugs such as heroin, cocaine and LSD. Fentanyl has been temporarily assigned to the Schedule 1 category since 2018. The law makes the designation permanent. The law also makes permanent mandatory minimum penalties of five years in prison for trafficking 10 grams of fentanyl and 10 years for 100 grams. "It doesn't sound like much, but it's a big deal," Trump said. The Department of Homeland Security seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl and arrested 3,600 criminal suspects in 2024. More than 105,000 people nationwide died of drug overdoses in 2023, including nearly 73,000 from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The crackdown on fentanyl distribution is also at the heart of current U.S. trade disputes with China, Mexico and Canada. Trump imposed tariffs on those countries, citing the threat of cross-border fentanyl trafficking. "We are delivering another defeat for the savage drug smugglers and criminals and the cartels," Trump said. Parents of several people who died after overdosing on fentanyl spoke at the event. Anne Fundner, whose 15-year-old son Weston died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2022, previously spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year. "It is a lifeline for families across America for keeping our families safe," Fundner said of the legislation. "This is what we voted for, Mr. President." Gregory Swan, whose 24-year-old son Drew died of fentanyl poisoning, started a group known as Fentanyl Fathers, in which parents tell their story to high schools across America. "His passing ruined, I thought, my life," Swan said. "There's despair and there's hopelessness. But we've been able to find some repose in going out and advocating."
UPI
17 hours ago
- Health
- UPI
Trump signs HALT Fentanyl Act to reclassify opioid as Schedule 1 drug
1 of 9 | President Donald Trump watches as Greg Swan, who lost his son Drew to fentanyl, speaks before signing the HALT Fentanyl Act during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday. The bill permanently places fentanyl-related substances into Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo July 16 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed bipartisan legislation that attempts to curb the illegal flow of fentanyl into the United States by reclassifying the opioid as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Trump appeared in the White House's East Room with supporters, including members of Congress and three people who described the deaths of family members from the opioid. The Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, or HALT Fentanyl Act, enacts harsher penalties for those convicted of offenses related to the drug. Under the law, fentanyl-related substances are triggered by the same quantity thresholds as analogues -- 100 grams or more and a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. During Trump's first term in office, fentanyl analogues were temporarily listed as under Schedule 1. Analogues are substances chemically similar to the regular drug. "This is a very special time because we've worked very hard to put ourselves in this position," Trump said. "Today we strike a righteous blow to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers and criminal cartels that we've all been hearing so much about for so many years and little has been done. "And we take a historic step toward justice for every family member touched by the fentanyl scourge." Ann Funder, who spoke to the Republican National Convention last July, lost her 15-year-old son Watson in 2022 to fentanyl poisoning. Gregory Swan's son Drew died in 2013, also from fentanyl poisoning, and he formed Fentanyl Fathers, who tell their tragic stories to high schools nationwide. Jacqueline Siegel founded Victoria Voice after the 2015 death of her 18-year-old daughter, Victoria, to a fentanyl overdose; and her sister died from cocaine laced with fentanyl this year. The bill overwhelmingly passed in both chambers: 321-104 in the House and 84-16 in the Senate. President Joe Biden supported the legislation, but it stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate. "Despite tens of thousands of Americans dying from fentanyl overdose each year, Democrats refused to pass this commonsense bill when they controlled Congress and the White House," Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said after the passage on June 12. "I'm proud to see Republicans take real action to combat the fentanyl crisis, advance life-saving research and support our brave men and women in blue." "I want to thank President Trump for his continued commitment to keeping illicit substances out of our country, and the HALT Fentanyl Act works directly in line with that mission," U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky said Wednesday. "As the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, I'm proud to have been a part of creating such critical legislation that permanently places fentanyl-related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substance Act to ensure law enforcement can crack down on drug traffickers that have wrought havoc on our communities for too long." The bill established an alternative registration process for certain Schedule 1 research. Nine major medical associations, more than 40 major advocacy groups and law enforcement groups representing 1 million officers supported the bill. In 2024, there were 48,422 deaths involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl in the United States with 76,282 in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013, it was just 3,017 overdoses. Trump has tied some tariffs on imported goods to the flow of fentanyl from other countries, including China, Canada and Mexico. "Six months ago, we came into office and inherited the worst drug crisis in American history by far," Trump said. "They did nothing. For four long years, Joe Biden surrendered our borders to the most evil and vicious traffickers, and networks and everything else on the planet Earth, allowing foreign drug cartels to carve out a massive footprint on American soil. ... This open borders nightmare flooded our country with fentanyl and with people that shouldn't be here." He has designated the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. And on his first day in office on Jan. 20, ordered the creation of Homeland Security task forces on illegal drugs. Through June, there have been 9,200 pounds of fentanyl seized with 21,900 for the entire 2024 at the border. Last month, were a record-low 8,024 U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions. In December 2023, there were 251,178 apprehensions. This week in Washington President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
USA Today
19 hours ago
- Health
- USA Today
Trump signs bill making tough sentences for fentanyl trafficking permanent
Nearly 73,000 people died from overdosing synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to the government. WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a law that extends tougher prison sentences for fentanyl trafficking, surrounded by relatives of people who died from overdoses and lawmakers who approved the bill. 'Today we strike a righteous blow to the drug dealers, narcotic traffickers and criminal cartels,' Trump said. 'We take a historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge.' The law places fentanyl on the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of most serious drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The list includes drugs such as heroin, cocaine and LSD. Fentanyl has been temporarily assigned to the Schedule 1 category since 2018. The law makes the designation permanent. The law also makes permanent mandatory minimum penalties of five years in prison for trafficking 10 grams of fentanyl and 10 years for 100 grams. 'It doesn't sound like much, but it's a big deal," Trump said. The Department of Homeland Security seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl and arrested 3,600 criminal suspects in 2024. More than 105,000 people nationwide died of drug overdoses in 2023, including nearly 73,000 from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The crackdown on fentanyl distribution is also at the heart of current U.S. trade disputes with China, Mexico and Canada. Trump imposed tariffs on those countries, citing the threat of cross-border fentanyl trafficking. 'We are delivering another defeat for the savage drug smugglers and criminals and the cartels," Trump said. Parents of several people who died after overdosing on fentanyl spoke at the event. Anne Fundner, whose 15-year-old son Weston died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2022, previously spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year. "It is a lifeline for families across America for keeping our families safe," Fundner said of the legislation. 'This is what we voted for, Mr. President." Gregory Swan, whose 24-year-old son Drew died of fentanyl poisoning, started a group known as Fentanyl Fathers, in which parents tell their story to high schools across America. 'His passing ruined, I thought, my life,' Swan said. 'There's despair and there's hopelessness. But we've been able to find some repose in going out and advocating.'
The Hill
19 hours ago
- Health
- The Hill
Trump signs legislation toughening fentanyl-related drug penalties
President Trump on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal fentanyl and toughening prison sentences for those who traffic the drug. Trump signed the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act at a White House ceremony, where he was joined by lawmakers and individuals whose family members have died from fentanyl overdoses. The president called the bill signing a 'historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge as we sign the HALT Fentanyl Act into law.' 'We'll be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our street, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic,' Trump said. 'And it's been getting a little bit better, but it's horrible.' The bill, which received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, permanently categorizes all fentanyl-related substances, including copycat synthetic versions of the drug, under Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act. That categorization gives law enforcement greater authority to crack down on the spread of the drug and carries stronger penalties for those convicted of possessing or distributing the drug. The White House has argued that the legislation will discourage cartels from creating new, synthetic fentanyl-like compounds to skirt the Controlled Substances Act. Other speakers at Wednesday's bill signing included Greg Swan, whose son died of a fentanyl overdose, and Anne Funder, who also spoke at last summer's Republican National Convention (RNC) about her son's fentanyl-related death. Trump has long railed against the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., using it as justification for imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. He has complained that neither Mexico nor Canada is doing enough to stop the drug from crossing the border, though significantly more fentanyl crosses into the U.S. through the southern border than through the northern border. The president has also hit China with tariffs over criticisms that the country is not taking enough action to stop fentanyl production. Trump on Wednesday also touted his administration's efforts to aggressively target drug cartels by designating them as foreign terrorist organizations.
Fox News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
How Kai Trump's heartfelt RNC speech unexpectedly launched her successful content creator journey
When Kai Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee last July, she spoke from the heart about her grandfather, then-former President Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt earlier that month. What Trump didn't expect was that her social media platforms exploded from her speech, and in turn, her content-creator dream blossomed. Today, Trump sports over 6 million followers across her TikTok, Instagram and YouTube channels. YouTube, specifically, has been a place where she peels back the curtain on her life, from playing rounds of golf with Rory McIlroy and famous YouTube golfers, to walking out to UFC 314 with her grandfather. While Trump is an avid golfer, who just signed an NIL partnership with Accelerator Active Energy ahead of enrolling at the University of Miami in 2026, she has a deep passion for content creation and has loved watching her platform grow. "It's been very fun growing it, especially after the RNC and how everything fell into place and I finally had more time to do content creation," she said. "And I always wanted to do it in my life, so it was really cool to have an opportunity to do it. But it's been amazing to build a fan base, be a role model for people to look up to as well – younger kids in general. It's been really cool." Every content creator will say they simply have to take a leap of faith when it comes to posting videos. It requires a certain kind of confidence, which Trump showed on that RNC stage. Some may have been terrified by speaking to thousands while millions at home were also watching, but not Trump, who has taken that confidence into her content-creation journey. "The RNC, to be honest with you, I wasn't really nervous," she said. "I don't know why, but speaking from the heart, it was very easy to go up there and talk about the situation that happened and talk about my grandpa. Speaking in public and content creation is very similar. "You have to talk in front of a camera, you've got to learn how to engage with the audience and you to do that through your camera or with public speaking." Trump gets millions of views on her videos, whether it's short ones for TikToks or long day-in-the-life posts on YouTube. No matter the length, she's received a ton of engagement, and her fans have liked how candid she is about her life. "My whole life, I've just always kind of been around just a lot – a lot of things going on and moving [around]," she said. "I love content creation just because I can share the inside of my life, but I can also interact with the base I've built and my community. I think that's really cool, and obviously I'm very, very thankful for my supporters and all those people who watch my videos. "I'm extremely grateful for everyone supporting me. I fell in love with it just because it's really cool to film video and all of a sudden edit it, go through that process, post it and see the end result. It's really cool, especially when you have people interacting with it." Trump will be heading to Miami in 2026, where she said her golf career will be "my first priority." However, as long as she has the time, content creation will always be something she wants to pursue. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
