[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 77761-77764]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21951]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 185 / Tuesday, September 24, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 77761]]
Presidential Determination No. 2024-12 of September 15,
2024
Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit
or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal
Year 2025
Memorandum for the Secretary of State
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States,
including section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-
228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries
as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing
countries (including countries that are a significant
direct source of precursor chemicals used in the
production of certain drugs and substances
significantly affecting the United States):
Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, the
People's Republic of China (PRC), Colombia, Costa Rica,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and
Venezuela.
A country's presence on the foregoing list is not
necessarily a reflection of its government's
counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the
United States. The list is not a sanction or penalty.
Consistent with the statutory definition of a major
drug transit or major illicit drug producing country
set forth in sections 481(e)(2) and 481(e)(5) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (Public Law
87-195) (FAA), the reason countries are placed on the
list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and
economic factors that allow drugs or precursor
chemicals to be transited or produced, even if a
government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics
control and law enforcement measures. The James M.
Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2023 (Public Law 117-263) amended the definition
of major drug source countries to include source
countries of precursor chemicals used to produce
illicit drugs significantly affecting the United
States.
Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby
designate Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela as having
failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to
both adhere to their obligations under international
counternarcotics agreements and to take the measures
required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA. Included with
this determination are justifications for the
designations of Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela, as
required by section 706(2)(B) of the FRAA. I have also
determined, in accordance with provisions of section
706(3)(A) of the FRAA, that United States programs that
support Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela are vital to the
national interests of the United States.
Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention indicate there were an estimated 107,543
drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2023--
a decrease of 3 percent from the 111,029 deaths
estimated in 2022. This is the first annual decrease in
drug overdose deaths since 2018 and a sign that my
Administration's historic investments are having an
impact. Federally funded State Opioid Response grant
programs have contributed to the prevention of over
600,000 potentially fatal overdoses and delivered
nearly 10 million naloxone kits since 2020. Naloxone is
available over-the-counter for the first time, thanks
to actions taken by the Food and Drug Administration.
Our workforce of addiction professionals continues to
grow, providing the essential prevention, treatment,
harm reduction, and recovery support services the
American people need.
[[Page 77762]]
We are also taking unprecedented action to disrupt the
supply of fentanyl, other deadly drugs, and precursor
chemicals. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has
stopped more fentanyl at ports of entry over the last 2
years than in the previous 5 years combined, keeping
tens of millions of fentanyl-laced pills and thousands
of pounds of fentanyl powder away from our communities.
In 2023 alone, CBP seized approximately 1.2 billion
doses of fentanyl. In just the last 5 months, over 442
million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl were
seized at United States borders. In 2021, I signed an
Executive Order targeting foreign persons engaged in
the global illicit drug trade and have since sanctioned
more than 300 persons and entities under this
authority, thus cutting them off from the United
States' financial system. The Department of Justice has
successfully arrested and prosecuted high-level drug
cartel leaders, drug traffickers, and money
launderers--placing dangerous traffickers behind bars.
While we expand our efforts at home, we also recognize
this problem as a global one that requires a
coordinated international response.
For this reason, my Administration launched a Global
Coalition in July 2023 uniting more than 150 countries
from every region of the world to address synthetic
drug threats. Participation in this group has tripled
in the past 12 months--evidence that every continent is
experiencing an alarming increase in the manufacturing,
trafficking, and consumption of dangerous illicit
synthetic drugs. I have also engaged with leaders
across the world to spur additional global action in
the fight against synthetic opioids, negotiated the
resumption of bilateral counternarcotics cooperation
with the PRC, and established a Trilateral Fentanyl
Committee with the Governments of Mexico and Canada.
While the challenges we face are more significant than
ever, increased global awareness has yielded enhanced
international action. In March, the United Nations (UN)
Commission on Narcotic Drugs adopted a United States-
sponsored resolution on preventing and responding to
overdoses to drive international data collection and
information sharing on this issue that remains deeply
personal to the American people. The Commission also
voted to place international controls on chemicals used
to manufacture illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine, and
MDMA, making it harder for trafficking networks to use
these substances to create and distribute these
dangerous synthetic drugs.
Fostering robust, long-term partnerships with crucial
allies such as Mexico is imperative for effectively
combating the fentanyl epidemic and dismantling the
sophisticated criminal organizations that exploit it
for financial gain. The U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial
Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe
Communities is the foundation for our bilateral efforts
to protect our people, prevent trans-border crime, and
pursue criminal networks. Through trilateral mechanisms
such as the North American Drug Dialogue and the
Trilateral Fentanyl Committee, the United States,
Mexico, and Canada have strengthened cooperation to
address illicit drug production, advance public health,
increase collaboration on the control of precursor
chemicals, and engage with the private sector to combat
the production of illicit synthetic drugs. Our security
cooperation has led to significant interdiction efforts
in Mexico. For example, United States-donated canines
supported the seizure of more than 3 million fentanyl
pills in Mexico in 2023 alone. We will continue our
close partnership with Mexico to prevent the diversion
of precursor chemicals and drug-related equipment;
improve interdiction, investigations, and criminal
justice outcomes; disrupt illicit finance; advance
border integration; and build public trust in security
and justice institutions.
In South America, coca cultivation and cocaine
production have reached record highs, necessitating
urgent action by countries in the region. Colombia, a
strong partner, continues to work closely with the
United States to reduce cocaine production, conduct
drug smuggling interdiction operations, and dismantle
the criminal organizations involved in cocaine
trafficking. United States assistance has led to
increased interdictions, with the Colombian
[[Page 77763]]
National Police seizing more than 841 metric tons of
pure cocaine and cocaine base in 2023--a 10 percent
increase from the previous year. The new metrics for
measuring progress agreed upon during the U.S.-Colombia
High Level Dialogue in May 2024 demonstrate our renewed
bilateral commitment to a holistic approach to address
the production and trafficking of cocaine, while
providing security, justice, and licit economic
opportunities for Colombia's vulnerable rural
populations. We are also collaborating to combat crimes
that wreak havoc on Colombia's environment and provide
significant funding to criminal organizations,
including those involved in cocaine production and
illegal mining. The United States welcomed the release
of Colombia's 10-year drug strategy in 2023 and now
urges the Colombian government to resource it
adequately and expedite its implementation.
Peru also remains a committed partner in reducing the
production and trafficking of cocaine, and our first
High Level Dialogue in May 2024 marked a positive step
in our bilateral counternarcotics cooperation.
While the Government of Bolivia has taken positive
steps to address coca cultivation, it must do more to
safeguard the country's licit coca markets from
criminal exploitation, reduce illicit coca cultivation
that continues to exceed legal limits under Bolivia's
domestic laws for medical and traditional use, improve
efforts to locate and interdict chemicals diverted
through black market channels for processing cocaine,
and expand cooperation with international partners to
disrupt transnational criminal networks.
Opium poppy cultivation for the production of illicit
opioids and methamphetamine in Afghanistan continues to
require global attention and action. This past year has
seen continued steps from Afghanistan to strengthen
drug control and curb the production of illicit opioids
and methamphetamine, including through the maintenance
of an existing ban on poppy cultivation and efforts to
reform drug policies. However, I will reconsider
Afghanistan's status in each annual review to assess
whether it is upholding its international drug control
commitments.
The PRC has worked with the United States to coordinate
efforts to counter the global manufacturing and
trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, including
fentanyl, since the Woodside Summit between President
Biden and President Xi in November 2023. Over the last
year, the PRC took significant steps to reduce the
flows of precursor chemicals to illicit drug producers
known to be trafficking synthetic drugs, such as
illicit fentanyl, into the United States. These steps
included the PRC issuing a public notice to the PRC
chemical industry warning against illicit trade in
precursor chemicals and pill press equipment; taking
public law enforcement actions against illicit
precursor chemical suppliers; removing web-based
advertisements; and scheduling 46 synthetic drugs
effective July 1, 2024, some of which had been
controlled internationally by the UN. The United States
and the PRC also launched the U.S.-PRC Counternarcotics
Working Group, a valuable mechanism for sharing law
enforcement information, tackling the illicit financing
of illicit drugs, and ensuring ongoing coordination on
shared challenges. That said, sustained enforcement and
regulatory action will be necessary to significantly
reduce the PRC's role as a source of precursor
chemicals used in the production, sale, and trafficking
of illicit synthetic drugs significantly impacting the
United States.
[[Page 77764]]
You are authorized and directed to submit this
designation, with the Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela
memoranda of justification, under section 706 of the
FRAA, to the Congress, and to publish this
determination in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, September 15, 2024
[FR Doc. 2024-21951
Filed 9-23-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 4710-10-P