The Addiction Policy Forum and over 100 national, state, and local organizations from across the country sent a letter to the U.S. Senate in support of the Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act (S.331). The organizations represent a broad range of sectors, including behavioral health, business, faith communities, law enforcement, and others.
Following bipartisan support to advance the bill out of the Judiciary Committee, the bill is headed toSenate Floor for a vote. The letters urge the Senate to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act, which makes permanent the classification of fentanyl knockoffs, known as fentanyl-related substances, as Schedule I, providing law enforcement, states, and localities with vital resources to combat this crisis nationwide.
The House of Representatives passed the HALT Fentanyl Act (H.R. 27) earlier this month with a bipartisan vote of 312-108 and the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month a bipartisan vote of 16-5.
A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report shows that 105,007 people died of an overdose in 2023. Scheduling fentanyl is vital to address the fentanyl overdose crisis. The legislation ensures that law enforcement and prosecutors maintain the necessary tools to address the opioid crisis, including preventing illegal trafficking, reducing the drug supply, helping prosecutors build stronger cases, and invoking strict punishments for fentanyl-related crimes.
“The Senate Judiciary Committee’s broad, bipartisan passage of the HALT Fentanyl Act is an important step towards ending our nation’s deadly opioid epidemic,” Grassley said in a statement. “Congress has a dwindling shot clock to pass this bill before fentanyl-related substances’ Schedule I status runs out. I urge my congressional colleagues to continue moving this legislation forward, so we can make permanent scheduling of fentanyl analogs the law of the land.”
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