YourVoice.Now Summary
Criminal Justice & Due ProcessTransparency & AccountabilityMakes selling drugs on the dark web its own federal crime with longer sentences, and creates an FBI task force to shut those markets down.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Delivering, selling, or helping sell any controlled drug through the dark web would become its own federal crime. The U.S. Sentencing Commission would have to raise the advised sentence for it by 2 levels.
The bill creates a task force inside the FBI to find and shut down dark web drug markets. Agencies like the DEA, Postal Inspection Service, and border agents would take part, using money the Justice Department already has.
Transparency & Accountability
The President would pick the task force's leader, and the Senate would have to approve that person. This gives Congress a say over who runs it.
The task force would stop 5 years after the bill becomes law. Congress would have to pass a new law to keep it going.
More about this bill
Selling drugs on the dark web would become its own federal crime, with longer prison time. The dark web is the hidden part of the internet. Search engines do not list it, and it hides who users are and where they are. The crime would cover delivering, selling, or helping sell any controlled drug there, not just opioids. Drug sales already allowed under federal drug law would not count. Selling drugs online is already illegal today. The new part is the dark web charge and a tougher sentence. The U.S. Sentencing Commission (which sets federal sentencing rules) would have to raise the advised sentence by 2 levels. The bill also creates an FBI task force to find and shut down dark web drug markets. It would be called the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement Task Force. The President would pick its leader, and the Senate would have to approve that pick. Ten federal agencies would take part, including the DEA, the Postal Inspection Service, and Customs and Border Protection. The task force would run cases, train police and prosecutors, and work with other countries. It gets no new money. It would use funds the Justice Department already has. It would end 5 years after the bill becomes law. Each year, the FBI would report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on the task force's cases and arrests. Within 1 year, the Justice Department would also report to Congress on how digital money like cryptocurrency pays for opioids sold on the dark web. Most people would see no direct change unless they buy or sell drugs online.
Congressional Summary
Dark Web Interdiction Act of 2025 This bill establishes enhanced criminal penalties for distributing controlled substances via the dark web. It also establishes other programs and requirements to address the use of the dark web for illicit drug activities. (Dark web means the portions of the internet with hidden sites and services that (1) are not generally searchable, and (2) can only be accessed with specialized devices or services that conceal the identities and locations of users.) Specifically, the bill provides an enhanced criminal penalty for delivering, distributing, or dispensing controlled substances via the dark web. The bill also provides statutory authority for the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement Task Force, which supports the investigation and prosecution of drug offenses committed via the dark web domestically and internationally. In addition, the Department of Justice must report on how and to what extent virtual currencies are used for opioid distribution via the dark web.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-06-05
- Date Added
- 2026-10-02
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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