The Stop Trafficking in Fentanyl Act of 2015 was introduced on Friday by U.S. Reps. Tom Rooney (R-FL) and Tim Ryan (D-OH).
The bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act to make sure that the law accurately reflects the potency of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Fentanyl has been attributed to a recent increase in fatal overdoses, with the Drug Enforcement Agency warning that the drug is 50 times as potent as heroin.
Fentanyl is similar to morphine but up to 100 times as powerful. Typically prescribed for pharmaceutical purposes, fentanyl is used to counter extreme pain for patients in the final stages of such diseases as cancer.
The Stop Trafficking of Fentanyl Act reduces the amount of the drug that is needed to invoke the most serious trafficking penalties for an individual, lowering the trigger threshold for federal penalties from 400 grams to 20 grams. Fentanyl can be fatal in doses as small as 0.25 milligrams.
Florida has been faced with a growing number of fentanyl-related deaths in the last several years, with Manatee County reporting the highest number of deaths related to the drug in the state in 2014 and one of the highest totals in the country.
“My concern is that without action, these overdose figures are only going to get worse,” Rooney said. “Under the current law, the threshold amount to invoke penalties is not appropriate with the strength of the drug. Individuals who are trafficking and profiting off fentanyl need to be adequately prosecuted in the hopes of stopping the alarming rising rate of fatal overdoses. We need to update our laws to get this incredibly dangerous synthetic drug off of the streets.”