This bill makes it a federal crime to knowingly deliver, distribute, or dispense a controlled substance by means of the dark web. It adds a definition of "dark web" to the Controlled Substances Act. The bill directs the United States Sentencing Commission to add a 2-level increase to the federal sentencing guideline range for violations involving the dark web.
The bill creates the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement Task Force inside the FBI. The Director of the task force is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation. The task force must include representatives from many federal agencies (for example, the FBI, DEA, Postal Inspection Service, ICE, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, DoD, FinCEN, and DOJ). The task force will investigate, disrupt, and dismantle illicit marketplaces, provide forensic and cyberforensic training, develop best practices for evidence and information sharing, build investigative approaches for emerging technologies, and coordinate with domestic and international partners.
The Director must report to the Judiciary Committees within one year and annually after that. The Attorney General must provide a report, in consultation with Treasury and Homeland Security, on the use of virtual currencies in opioid distribution through dark web marketplaces within one year. The task force is funded from amounts otherwise available to the Attorney General and the task force provision sunsets 5 years after enactment. The bill also directs Congress to review the dark web definition at least every 5 years.
If a person knowingly uses the dark web to deliver or sell opioids, the bill makes that action a federal offense and increases the applicable federal sentence range by 2 levels under the guidelines. Federal law enforcement will have a permanent interagency structure (for up to 5 years) focused on dark web marketplaces and opioid distribution. The task force will share training, develop investigative best practices, and report its activities and results to Congress each year. The bill requires a federal report on how virtual currencies are used in these transactions.
No publicly available information on estimated costs. The bill states the task force will be carried out using amounts otherwise made available to the Attorney General (no new appropriation text in the bill). The bill requires reports that may impose administrative costs but does not provide specific cost estimates. The task force provision expires 5 years after enactment.
The bill's findings and sense of Congress say the dark web enables anonymous illicit marketplaces that facilitate drug distribution and harm public health and national security. Supporters in the bill text say Congress should increase investigative and prosecutorial tools, enhance coordination among federal, State, Tribal, local, and international partners, and support efforts to detect, disrupt, and dismantle illicit marketplaces. The task force and required reports are presented as ways to build technical capacity, improve evidence sharing, and address virtual currency use in dark web drug transactions.
No publicly available information.