Last week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody led a multistate effort urging the United States Senate to promptly pass the HALT Fentanyl Act, a bill that will permanently schedule fentanyl analogues.
The HALT Fentanyl Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in a bipartisan fashion last month.
“Fentanyl-related substances kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, with no end in sight. It is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-49. With the temporary scheduling order set to expire in 2024, the time is now to permanently schedule fentanyl analogues. After bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives, I urge all senators to promptly pass the HALT Fentanyl Act to help law enforcement in the ongoing fight to end the opioid crisis and save American lives,” Moody said.
In a letter to Senate leaders, Moody, along with 22 other state attorneys general urged the prompt passing of the bill. The letter states: “The United States is experiencing a cataclysmic surge of overdose deaths due to the lethal amounts of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances that cross the southwestern land border unimpeded. Each year, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues kill Americans at a rate that rivals World War II or the Civil War. Just last year, drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl caused 66% of those overdose deaths. To ensure that law enforcement can continue to prosecute the sale and use of illicit fentanyl analogues, we the undersigned Attorneys General, as the chief legal officers of our respective States, write you to insist that you permanently schedule all current and future fentanyl analogues as Schedule I drugs by passing the HALT Fentanyl Act (H.R. 467/S.B. 1141) as soon as possible.”
Currently, fentanyl analogues are temporarily under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. That temporary status is set to end in December 2024.
Moody led the multistate effort, with attorneys general from the following states also signing the letter: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
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