Sen. Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig Back Bill to Crack Down on Fentanyl Trafficking on Social Media Platforms, Named After Hastings Teen

HASTINGS, Minnesota — Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig are both backing a bill aimed at curbing the trafficking of fentanyl on social media platforms, which is a way for young people to access the deadly drug.

The “Cooper Davis and Devin Norring” law is named after Cooper Davis of Shawnee, Kansas, and Devin Norring of Hastings. Both teens died of fentanyl overdoses after purchasing Percocet pills containing the deadly synthetic opioid on Snapchat.

On Tuesday, Norring’s parents joined Hastings High School. Both Minnesota lawmakers in Congress touted the bill aimed at holding social media platforms accountable for illegal drug trafficking that occurs on their sites. It requires social media platforms to alert law enforcement of illegal drug trafficking and provides criminal and civil penalties for failure to do so.

According to data from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), one in three drug trafficking cases involved social media over a three-month period in 2021.

“When a Boeing lost a door mid-flight, no one questioned the decision to ground a fleet of over 700 planes. We need to take the same kind of decisive action on the role of social media in the fentanyl crisis because we know children are dying,” Sen. Klobuchar said at a news conference.

In Minnesota, more than 1,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2022, according to the most recent data available. An overwhelming majority (92%) of those deaths were related to fentanyl poisoning, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

“Congress must step up and force these tech platforms to keep these drug dealers out of the hands of our youth throughout our community,” Craig said.

Klobuchar said the proposal had passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and was ready for a vote, while Craig was rallying bipartisan support in the House.

Hastings Police Chief David Wilske said law enforcement once had success tracking down and prosecuting drug dealers on these social media platforms, but it became more difficult as the companies used encryption services that protected messages.

“This effectively protects their users and does not allow law enforcement to retrieve the data, even with a search warrant. Make no mistake: the priority of social media platforms is to protect their customers. And this allows dealers to find buyers very easily and often remain anonymous,” he explained.

He said the legislation will aid local law enforcement in their efforts to hold drug traffickers accountable and help strengthen their cases for prosecution.

At a Senate hearing in January, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said he supported it as well.

“We believe this will help the DEA go after the cartels and take more traffickers off the streets and save more lives,” he told the panel.

In a interview with WCCO Last summer, Bridgette Norring said her son, Devin, for whom the law is named, had a cracked molar and migraines, but pandemic lockdowns had canceled his dental appointments. His friend said he could help him find a pain reliever.

The Percocet Devin Norring bought on Snapchat turned out to be 100% fentanyl.

“We’ve asked ourselves every day for four years if we could have done something differently,” Bridgette Norring said Tuesday. “But we’ve also gotten angrier and angrier as the days go by, because since Devin passed away, nothing has changed.”

In the past 18 months, Hastings has seen five drug overdose-related deaths in the community, Wilske said.

Rochester police seized 7,000 fentanyl pills last month and earlier this year, federal officials said. 30,000 grams of fentanyl were seized when they busted a drug ring in the Twin Cities. It was the largest fentanyl seizure in Minnesota history, with enough fentanyl to kill every Minnesotan twice over.