Expiring Ban on Fentanyl Analogues Is An Emergency Requiring Immediate Congressional Action

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than 
morphine. While it can help alleviate severe pain when properly prescribed by a physician, fentanyl 
is also highly addictive and oftentimes deadly. We increasingly find it manufactured illegally in 
China and Mexico, trafficked by the cartels into the United States, and sold on the streets at 
great societal costs.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70,000 people died from drug 
overdoses in 2017, making it a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. 
Sixty-eight percent of those deaths involved a prescription or illicit opioid; in roughly half of 
those cases, the fatal opioid was fentanyl. We see those same trends continuing here in the 
Southern District of Illinois. Last month, the Madison County coroner reported that most of the 
drug overdose deaths his office reviewed in 2019 involved fentanyl. The stories of local families 
directly impacted by those deaths are heartbreaking.

Efforts to curb illicit fentanyl trafficking have been challenged by the proliferation of numerous 
chemical variations. These variations – known as fentanyl “analogues” – produce the same powerful 
opioid effects as fentanyl but remain chemically distinct. Because federal law identifies and 
regulates dangerous drugs according to their chemical properties, the ever-changing permutations of 
these fentanyl analogues pose a significant problem. If a particular chemical compound is not 
listed on the schedule of controlled substances, law enforcement is powerless to take action 
against it.

Thankfully, for the past two years, this challenge has been alleviated through federal regulation. 
On February 6, 2018, in recognition of the unprecedented escalation in opioid-related overdoses as 
well as the White House directive to declare the opioid crisis a national public health emergency, 
the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used its emergency regulatory authority to place all 
nonscheduled fentanyl-like substances on the list of banned substances. Today, anyone who 
possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit, fentanyl-like substance is subject to 
criminal prosecution.

But that all can change next week. The DEA’s regulatory prohibition on fentanyl analogues is set to 
expire on February 6, 2020. “We need immediate legislative action so law enforcement can continue 
to regulate fentanyl,” said U.S. Attorney Steve Weinhoeft. “Fentanyl is a serial killer drug. The 
DEA continues to intercept variations of it being illicitly imported into the United States and 
distributed by criminal networks, causing overdose deaths across the country, including here in 
Southern Illinois. I urge extend the ban on fentanyl analogues so law enforcement will have the tools we need to keep our communities safe.”