The Alameda County Sheriff's Office made an announcement on Twitter stating its office and the Narcotics Task Force recovered the 42,000 grams of illicit fentanyl in Oakland and Hayward. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office)
Democrats sought to filibuster the bill's passage, arguing it did not do enough to combat the fentanyl crisis as a whole, would increase mass incarceration and limit the study of these fentanyl analogs by placing them in a more restrictive regulatory category.
However, the bill's Republican sponsors argue it will reduce bureaucratic hurdles in the research of fentanyl analogs, serving to open the door for more scientists to study these novel substances. The arguments it will increase mass incarceration were also questioned by a Stanford University drug policy expert and former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy advisor, Keith Humphreys, who pointed out it's already illegal to possess or traffic fentanyl analogs.
The HALT Fentanyl Act does not create any new mandatory minimum sentencing, but it puts fentanyl-related substances under the same sentencing guidelines used for fentanyl itself.
During a press call Friday with some of the bill's Republican sponsors ahead of the HALT Act's passage, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., noted how the nature of the U.S. drug crisis is "changing rapidly on the street, and Congress needs to respond."
More than 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2023, and nearly 70% of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl. (Getty Images)
"This is a major accomplishment, quite frankly, to be able to move this through in the fight against fentanyl," Lankford added.
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Other potential measures to combat the fentanyl crisis, including efforts to bolster law enforcement's drug interdiction efforts and legislation to go after the veterinary drug xylazine, which is being added to fentanyl to make it more addictive, are among additional efforts being considered on Capitol Hill.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-passes-halt-fentanyl-act-classify-all-fentanyl-related-drugs-schedule-i-substances