MN Senator Klobuchar, Rep. Craig introduce bill to crack down on fentanyl trafficking

HASTINS, MINN. — Despite what big tech says, social media can be deadly. Just ask Devin Norring's parents.

Devin died in 2020 after he took a fentanyl-laced pill he purchased over messaging app Snapchat, thinking it was Percocet. The 19-year-old was suffering from migraines and was unable to get access to doctor's appointments at the height of the pandemic.

"He thought he could turn to snapchat to make the pain stop," Bridgette Norring, Devin's mother said at a press conference at Hastings High School on Tuesday.

Four years later, Norring said her family is not the only ones who have suffered from drug trafficking on social media platforms. She wants the platforms held accountable.

"Our children and loved ones are still being preyed on by drug dealers in our communities, operating on social media platforms," she said.

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U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., addressed a tear-filled atrium where she talked about her newly introduced legislation, the Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act, a bipartisan bill that would require social media companies to alert law enforcement of drug trafficking on its platforms, impose criminal and civil penalties on those that do not and address the fentanyl crisis.

Norring said she was honored to have the bill named in part after her son, and she supports Craig's bill and hopes it will show big tech they are "not as untouchable as they think."

Similar to other states, Minnesota has seen a spike in fentanyl overdose deaths in the past 10 years. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who also addressed the crowd, introduced a similar bill in 2023 that is awaiting a floor vote in the Senate, saying fentanyl is involved in 92 % of all opioid deaths in Minnesota.

In 2022, more than 1,300 Minnesotans died from overdoses, with 62% of them being caused by fentanyl exposure, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Deaths that involved synthetic opioids, which includes fentanyl , went up by 5%, the study said. Fentanyl, according to the Minnesota Department of Health, is 50 times more potent than heroin - and more deadly.

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— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY. You can reach her atswoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, or on Threads @samjowoody