The Halt All Legal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, also known as the HALT Fentanyl Act, became law on Wednesday, permanently classifying fentanyl-related substances as “Fentanyl Analogs,” a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
A fentanyl analog tends to have the same effects on the user that regular fentanyl does, but it has been chemically altered in some way to create a substance distinct from fentanyl. It’s altered in order to avoid being classified as illegal, skirt around manufacturing restrictions, and avoid being detected in drug tests. Because fentanyl analogs have no legal medical use, they can have even more dire results than normal fentanyl.
According to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, “The availability of black-market fentanyl and fentanyl analogs led to a U.S. opioid epidemic that continues to cause thousands of overdose deaths each year.” One of those fentanyl analogs, carfentanyl, can have lethal effects even if the user ingests an amount the size of a pin head.
Fentanyl analogs are classified as a Schedule I drug, which means that they are substances with a high chance of abuse, have no FDA-approved medical use, and are under tight regulations from the federal government. Fentanyl-related substances, which are now given the same classification as fentanyl analogs under the new law, refer to synthetic opioids, which have a similar chemical structure to fentanyl. They also have the same dangerous effects on the user.
The first synthetic opioid introduced to the market was acetyl fentanyl in 2013, which contributed to multiple unintentional drug-related deaths that same year.
Since fentanyl-related substances are now classified as a Schedule I drug under the HALT Fentanyl Act, they are subject to the same regulations and penalties that fentanyl analogs are. For example, if an offense involves 100 grams or more of a fentanyl analog, it automatically results in a 10-year minimum prison term.
“Under the HALT Fentanyl Act, anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit FRS (fentanyl-related substances) will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as any other Schedule I controlled substance,” states a White House document shared with The Daily Wire. Through its permanent classification, this act intends to “close the loopholes criminals use to skirt around the law,” as well as “make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute those criminals.”
Last year, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported 348 fentanyl analogue trafficking offenses, with the average prison sentence being 94 months.
The bipartisan HALT Fentanyl Act passed the House 321-104 and passed the Senate 84-16. Just before he signed it into law, President Trump stated, “With the signing of the HALT Fentanyl Act in just a few moments, we are delivering another defeat for the savage drug smugglers, and criminals, and the cartels.”
As he signed it, President Trump was surrounded by parents who had lost their children to fentanyl-related overdoses. They held pictures of their deceased loved ones as they celebrated the signing.
“I would just like to say, thank you, Mr. President, for stopping the border crossings,” said Greg Swan, who lost his son to fentanyl. “It was amazing what you did. We were being gaslit — and you came and lit a fire to that story, and we’re a lot safer for it.”
“In the last four years, fentanyl became the number one killer [of] Americans ages 15 to 48,” observed Anne Fundner, a mother who also lost her son to the drug. “President Trump, for four years, we felt ignored, but you’ve changed that. … It is a lifeline for families across America in keeping our families safe. … Thank you for keeping America safe for our children. This is what we voted for.”
Evelyn Elliott serves as an intern at Family Research Council.
