May 25th, 2o23
By News Report
WASHINGTON, D.C. | H.R. 456, or the HALT Fentanyl Act, supported strongly by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, passed a House vote May 25.
Introduced by Representative H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9) Jan. 23, HALT reclassifies fentanyl as a schedule 1 controlled substance, making it subject to stricter regulatory controls and tougher criminal penalties. Combined with the Secure the Border Act, sponsors predict numbers of fentanyl-related deaths should start to trend downward.
“This lifesaving legislation brings us one step closer to combatting the illicit fentanyl crisis. Along with the Secure the Border Act, which will significantly limit the amount of illicit fentanyl pouring into communities across the United States, the HALT Fentanyl Act promises to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to keep fentanyl off our streets and out of the hands of the most vulnerable members of our communities,” Stefanik said in a May 25 statement that read in full as follows.
“The illicit fentanyl crisis has only been exacerbated by Joe Biden’s radical open border policies and we are now seeing hundreds of Americans killed daily by illicit fentanyl. Fentanyl poisoning deaths account for 77 percent of adolescent overdose deaths and fentanyl poisoning is the leading cause of death for adults aged 18 to 49. These numbers are not just numbers; there is a face, a name, and a grieving family behind each and every statistic.
“Across Upstate New York and the North Country, there has been an alarming spike in illicit fentanyl overdoses — just this past weekend, there were five overdoses in Rensselaer County. This cannot keep happening, which is why House Republicans took matters into their own hands and passed legislation to address the illicit fentanyl crisis.”
Read the article here.
