RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares — along with Florida’s Attorney General — is leading a coalition of 23 states urging congress to pass a bill which would reclassify fentanyl analogues as a Schedule I narcotic.
According to a release from the Office of the Attorney General, Miyares and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody co-wrote a letter to the Senate asking them to vote to pass the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of (HALT) Fentanyl Act.
If passed, the bill would reclassify all fentanyl-related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Schedule I narcotics “are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
According to the letter, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids caused 66% of all drug overdoses in the United States in 2022.
“The threat of fentanyl in all its forms cannot be overstated. We’ve already seen its devastating effect on families and communities in every corner of the Commonwealth, and it has the potential to be much worse. Congress must make every current and future fentanyl analogue a Schedule I drug, as soon as possible,” said Miyares.
The letter, which can be read in full here, was co-signed by the Attorneys General of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
