Sec. 2. Findings

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A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: The United States is in the midst of the worst opioid epidemic in history. Illicit fentanyl is typically mixed into heroin or pressed into counterfeit pills made to look like controlled prescription drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and Xanax. From September 29 through December 15, 2021, the DEA seized more than 1,500 pounds of substances containing fentanyl and 8.4 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills. The seizures were directly linked to at least 39 overdose deaths and included at least 76 cases that involved buying and selling drugs on social media apps.

Over the course of that year, the DEA seized over 15,000 pounds of substances containing fentanyl and 20.4 million fake pills, with roughly four out of every 10 pills containing lethal doses of fentanyl. The widespread availability of illicit fentanyl, the proliferation of counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs but containing illicit fentanyl or other illicit drugs, and the ease of purchasing pills through social media have increased fatal overdose risk among adolescents.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, overdose deaths reached a historic high of more than 90,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020, a 31 percent increase compared with the previous year and in 2021, there were more than 106,000 reported drug overdose deaths in the U.S., with deaths involving synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) numbering 70,601. Between 2019 and 2021, more than 2,200 adolescents overdosed, 96 percent of whom were between the ages of 15 and 19. Fentanyl was involved in 84 percent of the deaths.

While counterfeit pill evidence was present in 25 percent of adolescent overdose deaths, this is likely an underestimate because pills present at the scenes of the overdose deaths were not always tested. Many overdose deaths are preventable with public health interventions such as education, harm reduction, and treatment access. Public education campaigns can teach teenagers, parents, and others on the dangers of fentanyl and counterfeit pills and educating individuals on mitigating practices can be beneficial, including emphasis on not initiating drug use, not using drugs while alone, using fentanyl test strips, and having overdose reversal drugs readily available.

Opioid antagonists, such as naloxone, can be used during emergencies to reverse opioid overdoses and are effective at preventing fatal drug overdoses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that despite an increase in prescriptions for emergency opioid antagonists, not enough of the medication is getting into the hands of those who need it most. Expanding access to emergency opioid antagonists and encouraging people to obtain emergency opioid antagonists are in the best interest of the health and safety of the public.

Increasing access to medications like methadone and buprenorphine that effectively treat opioid use disorder can save lives. Greater access to drug detection tools such as fentanyl strips are a low-cost method of helping prevent drug overdoses and reducing harm.