U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of his colleagues in urging the Biden administration to determine if Syria is a major drug transit country or a major illicit drug-producing country under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
“In addition to its gross human rights violations and regularly committing war crimes against his own people, the Assad regime in Syria has now become a narco-state,” Rep. Hill said on Tuesday. “The production and trade of the drug, Captagon, is not only a critical financial lifeline to Assad, but it cripples local populations, serves to undermine families and local communities, and finances Iran-backed groups in the region.”
According to a July 15 letter Rep. Hill and the members sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the White House in its most recent report did not list Syria among the 22 countries identified as major drug transit or major illicit drug-producing countries, despite elements of the regime under Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad and regime-affiliated networks reportedly engaging in state-sponsored amphetamine production and trafficking.
The lawmakers noted that they’ve also “seen a troubling increase in Captagon exports from Assad regime-affiliated networks.”
“This uptick,” they wrote, “has also coincided with increased Assad-affiliated Captagon seizures globally.”
U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) joined Rep. Hill in signing the letter, which explains that if the Syrian government is designated as having “failed demonstrably” in its counternarcotics commitments, then the law requires that the United States “must cease providing certain categories of foreign assistance.”
“The U.S. government must do all it can to disrupt the industrial level of drug production currently taking place in Syria,” said Rep. Hill. “This includes getting my bill for an interagency strategy signed into law and the Department of State determining that Syria is a major drug manufacturing and transit country.
“If we do not act,” he added, “then we risk permitting the narco-state of Assad to become a permanent fixture in the region.”
Rep. Hill on Dec. 14, 2021, introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Countering Assad’s Proliferation Trafficking And Garnering Of Narcotics (CAPTAGON) Act of 2021, H.R. 6265, with lead cosponsor Rep. Boyle. Sen. Marshall on the same day sponsored the companion bill, S. 3392.
If enacted, the measure would require the U.S. Department of Defense, the State Department, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other appropriate federal agencies to provide Congress with a strategy to disrupt and dismantle narcotics production and trafficking networks linked to the Assad regime, according to the congressional record bill summary.
The CAPTAGON Act was included as an amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 7900, which the House passed on July 14.