Representative Hageman Votes to Increase Penalties for Fentanyl Sale and Use

Congresswoman Harriet Hageman joined 288 other congresspersons and voted in favor of H.R. 467, the HALT Fentanyl Act. The legislation would permanently place fentanyl-related substances (FRS) into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

According to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the HALT Fentanyl Act would make the temporary class-wide scheduling order for fentanyl-related substances permanent. It ensures law enforcement has the tools they need to keep these extremely lethal and dangerous drugs off the streets.

The bill also ensures practitioners can research fentanyl-related substances to better understand its overall effects on people’s health. Representatives Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Bob Latta (R-OH) introduced the bill in the 118th Congress.

Rep. Hageman stated, “In Wyoming and throughout America, there is a pandemic of Fentanyl use. In 2022 alone, drug deaths nationwide reached a record 109,680 – it is a crisis greatly exacerbated by the open border policies of the Biden administration.

“The HALT Fentanyl Act would permanently reclassify the drug as a Schedule 1 substance, placing it in the same category as LSD and Heroin. The legislation would also supply law enforcement with the tools needed to keep these dangerous drugs off our streets and support research efforts to understand the effects of FRS on people’s health.

“We must do everything possible to provide help to our communities that are suffering from record high drug trafficking occurring due to President Biden’s abject failure to keep America safe from the drug cartels freely operating along our southern border.”