WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), is cosponsoring bipartisan legislation to help law enforcement combat fentanyl trafficking and equip scientists with the tools to research and better understand fentanyl and other opioid-related substances. The bipartisan Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act would finally make permanent the scheduling of illicitly produced fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as Schedule I drugs and streamline the regulatory process for scientists seeking approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to research these substances.

A permanent scheduling of FRS is necessary to make penalties for criminals clear and enforceable under the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), reducing the supply and availability of illicitly manufactured FRS. The HALT Fentanyl Act places the strongest controls and penalties on FRS, which have no accepted medical use and a high abuse potential. The bill would also establish a new, streamlined registration process for research funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), or under an Investigative New Drug (IND) exemption from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Our state knows all too well the devastation opioids like fentanyl can cause; far too many Maine people have lost their lives or a loved-one to fentanyl related overdoses,” said Senator King. “We have a duty to equip our law enforcement professionals, researchers and those on the frontlines with the consistent guidance to help us combat this deadly epidemic. The bipartisan Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act meets the urgency of this crisis and is a critical step toward ensuring our families and communities are safe from this dangerous, deadly drug.”

Since 2013, Maine has experienced tragically significant growth in total deaths from fentanyl related overdoses. In 2021, 77% of all drug overdoses in Maine were due to fentanyl. Fentanyl and FRS are especially dangerous because their presence is often unknown to the user and lethal in extremely small amounts. The University of Maine estimates fentanyl to be 25 times more potent than oxycodone and 50-100 times more potent than heroin.

Specifically, the HALT Fentanyl Act would:

• Permanently impose the following quantity-based federal trafficking penalties on FRS:
• Mandatory minimum penalties: 5 years for 10 grams or more (10 years for second offense); and 10 years for 100 grams or more (20 years for second offense).
• Discretionary maximum penalties: 40 years for 10 grams or more (life for second offense); and life for 100 grams or more.
• Enhance our understanding of manufactured substances by:
• Allowing researchers in the same institution to participate in multiple scientific studies.
• Permitting researchers with ongoing studies to examine newly added schedule I substances.
• Allowing researchers to manufacture small quantities of FRS without a separate registration.

In addition to Senator King, the HALT Fentanyl Act is cosponsored by Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM),  Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Roger Marshall (R-KN), Todd Young (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mike Rounds (R-SD), John Kennedy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Select Senate Committee on Intelligence, Senator King has previously supported legislation to combat illicit drug use and decrease overdoses. He is a cosponsor of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, bipartisan legislation that is designed to stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders. Senator King also cosponsored the INTERDICT Act, bipartisan legislation to help halt the flow of illicit fentanyl from Mexico, China and other nations around the world into the United States. During an open hearing of the Select Senate Intelligence Committee last year, Senator King pressed Avril Haines, the former Director of National Intelligence and Christopher Wray, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), about what the intelligence community is doing to halt the flow of illicit drugs — including fentanyl — from Mexico, China and other nations into the United States.

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