U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito has voted in favor of the Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) Fentanyl Act, a piece of legislation she co-sponsored. The act aims to make permanent the temporary classification of fentanyl and its analogs as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act. This move comes amid growing concerns over drug overdoses, particularly among young adults aged 18 to 45, where synthetic opioids like fentanyl account for 66% of overdose deaths in the U.S.
Senator Capito emphasized the severe impact of fentanyl on her home state: “West Virginia has been disproportionately impacted by the drug crisis, with fentanyl being one of the deadliest drugs that has made the crisis exponentially worse.” She added that the HALT Fentanyl Act would provide law enforcement with necessary resources to combat traffickers and reduce street-level availability of these substances. “I was proud to co-sponsor this bill and vote to pass it,” Capito stated.
The legislation also seeks to facilitate research by removing barriers that currently hinder studies on these substances. It allows for exemptions if research indicates that certain analogs could be beneficially classified differently than Schedule I, potentially for medical purposes.
In 2023, more than 107,000 individuals died from drug overdoses in the United States, with nearly 1,400 fatalities occurring in West Virginia alone. Approximately 70% of these deaths were linked to opioids such as illegal fentanyl, which is predominantly manufactured in Mexico using raw materials from China. During the same year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 80 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder.
