Flanked by Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone, Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund, and the city’s top two police officers, Langworthy touted the legislation as “a major victory in the war against the opioid epidemic.”

He said it “offers hope to families and equips law enforcement with the tools they need to pursue traffickers and criminal networks flooding” communities with fentanyl.

President Donald Trump signed the act into law July 16. Langworthy attended the signing ceremony.

Langworthy cited federal statistics showing that fentanyl currently causes about 70,000 U.S. deaths a year. It’s also now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45.

U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy speaks to his deputy district director Christine Rinaldi Monday morning in Jamestown as Second Street looms in the background. Langworthy offered a press conference highlighting the recently approved HALT Fentanyl Act. Photo by M.J. Stafford

“I’ve made it a top priority to halt this scourge that has devastated communities,” the second-term congressman said.

Quattrone, Ecklund, Jamestown Police Chief Timothy Jackson, and city Deputy Police Chief Scott Forster joined Langworthy for the press conference. Langworthy talked up their participation in community round tables about fentanyl, but added that many other area officials offered constructive ideas as well.

“It starts with shutting down the pipeline,” he said. The Congressman said that for years, China has created substances that are technically legal, but easily convertible into fentanyl. He called it a “deliberate chemical shell game” by China and drug cartels.

“No more loopholes. Those that traffic this poison now face serious consequences,” Langworthy said. The act increases legal penalties for fentanyl-related substances to match those for fentanyl.

He added that “We must keep investing in treatment, education… programs that will save lives.”

The Republican congressman went on to not unexpectedly place blame for the fentanyl crisis on such players as the Chinese Communist Party, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, and “dangerous illegals.”

Langworthy complained that the Chinese Communists are “actively subsidizing the export of this poison” and alleged that Schumer previously held up passage of anti-fentanyl legislation similar to what was just passed.

He also took shots at a favorite target of upstate New York conservatives, the progressive-led bail reform laws. Langworthy said colleagues from other states are “floored” by the state’s bail laws. He claimed that someone could have 100 pounds of fentanyl in their car in the state and get out of jail time.

The OBSERVER later asked Langworthy about a HALT Fentanyl Act provision on research of the drug. The congressman acknowledged that some of the law’s detractors worry that it will discourage medical providers from using fentanyl, which can be prescribed as a painkiller in small doses. However, he said it allows research in laboratory settings for medical grade fentanyl.

While medical fentanyl is used at hospitals, “illicit fentanyl lands the user in the morgue. We have to balance those two things,” Langworthy said. “It’s the abuse and the illicit use we need tools to go fight — not within a hospital setting,” he added.