Local officials are taking action after six people recently died from drug overdoses in the Hudson Valley.

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) announced the Stop Online Opioid Sales Act to require the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to collect information on online drug sales and issue an annual report to inform a solution to combating the problem.

A Senate investigation determined that Americans purchased $800 million in fentanyl from China alone over the past two years, officials say.

“We’ve lost six people to overdoses in Orange County over just two weeks – we have to use all the tools we can to fight the heroin and opioid epidemic – and that includes fighting online drug sales,” Maloney said in a press release. “My bill will get us the information we need to tackle this problem.”

The Stop Online Opioid Sales Act would require the DEA to compile a yearly report on the sale of drugs online within a year.

Reports must include the types and amounts of controlled substances sold online, the name of each entity or person selling them and an estimate of the revenue being generated through these illegal channels.

“The complexities involved in targeting opioid distributors and providing treatment to those addicted to these dangerous drugs, requires us to take a multi-faceted approach,” Middletown Police Chief John Ewanciw said.

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