U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Richard Burr (R-NC) recently urged the Biden administration to support their Republican-led bicameral bill to permanently classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the strongest controls on substances having no accepted medical use and high abuse potential.
The drug’s current Schedule I classification is temporary and set to expire later this year, according to Sen. Cassidy and Sen. Burr, who, on Dec. 8, 2021, introduced the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, S. 3336, also known as the HALT Fentanyl Act. U.S. Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), on the same day, joined 26 original GOP cosponsors to introduce the identical bill, H.R. 6184, in their chamber.
“It is critical that the Biden administration advance policies that are driven to save lives and keep our nation safe, not achieve political aims,” the senators wrote in an April 6 letter sent to Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. “The time to enact a strong federal response to fentanyl is now before another record is broken. We urge the administration to support the HALT Fentanyl Act.”
If enacted, the bill would also establish a new, alternative registration process for schedule I research that is federally funded or conducted under an investigative new drug exemption from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to the congressional record bill summary.
In their letter, the senators expressed concern that the Biden administration has not supported bipartisan, common-sense legislative solutions to permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act.
“Instead, the Democrats in Washington have decided to play political games with a crisis fueled by products created in China and shipped across our southern border with Mexico, costing hundreds of thousands of American lives,” they wrote. “Fentanyl is now the number one cause of death for Americans 18 to 45 years of age. Fentanyl poisoning killed more people in [this] age group last year than COVID-19, suicide, car accidents, or gun violence.”
The senators wrote that it is critical for the federal government to have a straightforward, nonpolitical policy and strategy to work with Congress to permanently schedule fentanyl and expand access to the research community to combat future overdose deaths.
The HALT Fentanyl Act, they wrote, “is a clean legislative solution that would permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I” and address Democrat concerns about strong controls on Schedule I substances by promoting research on these substances.
“The HALT Fentanyl Act is a true long-term and consensus approach combating fentanyl,” wrote Sens. Cassidy and Burr.