HALT Fentanyl Act

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Feb 10, 2025

The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a class into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, subjecting them to the same quantity thresholds and criminal penalties as fentanyl analogues (for example, offenses involving 100 grams or more trigger a mandatory minimum 10-year prison term). The bill creates an alternative registration process for certain schedule I research and modifies other research registration requirements, including allowing single registrations for related research sites in certain circumstances, waiving reinspection requirements in some situations, and permitting registered researchers to manufacture small quantities of controlled substances without obtaining a separate manufacturing registration. The bill also expresses Congressional agreement with the U.S. District Court's 2018 interpretation in United States v. McCray that butyryl fentanyl can be considered an analogue of fentanyl despite statutory language that generally excludes controlled substances from the analogue definition.

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Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act or the HALT Fentanyl Act This bill permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a class into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. A schedule I controlled substance is a drug, substance, or chemical that has a high potential for abuse; has no currently accepted medical value; and is subject to regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act. Under the bill, offenses involving fentanyl-related substances are triggered by the same quantity thresholds and subject to the same penalties as offenses involving fentanyl analogues (e.g., offenses involving 100 grams or more trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term). Additionally, the bill establishes a new, alternative registration process for certain schedule I research. The bill also makes several other changes to registration requirements for conducting research with controlled substances, including permitting a single registration for related research sites in certain circumstances, waiving the requirement for a new inspection in certain situations, and allowing a registered researcher to perform certain manufacturing activities with small quantities of a substance without obtaining a manufacturing registration. Finally, the bill expresses the sense that Congress agrees with the interpretation of Controlled Substances Act in United States v. McCray , a 2018 case decided by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. In that case, the court held that butyryl fentanyl, a controlled substance, can be considered an analogue of fentanyl even though, under the Controlled Substances Act, the term controlled substance analogue specifically excludes a controlled substance.