Global prohibition of drugs has been a failure. The world must continue to shift towards health and human rights-based approaches.
This bill permanently classifies all fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as Schedule I without testing for medical benefits, blocking research that could lead to new overdose treatments. It also entrenches and expands mandatory minimums, imposing harsh penalties that do not consider individual circumstances, while diverting resources from health solutions for fentanyl to criminalization.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Halt Fentanyl Act. This counterproductive bill would permanently schedule all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I, blocking potential health research and creating new mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl-related substances.