WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today joined President Trump at the White House for the signing of his HALT Fentanyl Act, which gives law enforcement another tool by permanently scheduling fentanyl-related substances (FRS) as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act. FRS have been temporarily scheduled since 2018, but Cassidy’s bill now gives law enforcement the certainty they need to stop fentanyl dealers.
“President Trump and I are committed to stopping fentanyl overdoses and overdose related deaths,” said Dr. Cassidy. “My HALT Fentanyl Act, which he signed today, gives law enforcement one more tool to attack this problem.”
Background
The U.S. Senate passed Cassidy’s bill in March. In February, Cassidy spoke on the U.S. Senate floor amid Senate Democrats’ attempt to undermine his HALT Fentanyl Act.
Drug overdoses, largely driven by fentanyl, are the leading cause of death among young adults 18 to 45 years old. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl account for 68 percent of the total U.S. overdose deaths. In the last two fiscal years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized record amounts of fentanyl—nearly 50,000 pounds—enough to produce more than 2 billion lethal doses. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2023 there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths—74,702 of which were attributed to fentanyl. This was primarily fueled by synthetic opioids, including illegal fentanyl, which are largely manufactured in Mexico from raw materials supplied by China. In 2022, there were over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), more than doubling the amount seized in 2021.
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