R47572 — Comparison of Proposed Legislation Concerning Fentanyl-Related Substances
Reports · published 2023-05-24 · v2 · Active · crsreports.congress.gov ↗
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- Joanna R. Lampe · Lisa N. Sacco
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R47572
Summary
On February 6, 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a temporary scheduling order that placed certain “fentanyl-related substances” (FRS) in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) for two years. Placing a drug or other substance in Schedule I reflects a finding that the substance has no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. While previous scheduling actions by both DEA and Congress identified a specific substance or a list of several discrete substances for control, the FRS temporary scheduling order instead imposed controls on a broad class of FRS that met specific criteria related to their chemical structure. Although that class of substances is finite, it includes thousands of different chemicals. For multiple reasons, including the statutory and practical limitations on DEA’s scheduling authority, Congress has extended the FRS temporary scheduling order several times, most recently on December 29, 2022. The order is now set to expire on December 31, 2024. This report compares the treatment of FRS under two bills introduced during the 118th Congress: the Save Americans from the Fentanyl Emergency Act (SAFE Act, H.R. 568) and the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act (HALT Fentanyl Act, H.R. 467). The report discusses both proposals in relation to current law under the CSA. This report focuses on these two bills due to planned floor activity for the week of May 22, 2023, and the similarities between the two bills.
Bills cited (2)
Curated by CRS — every bill listed in this report's relatedMaterials. Edge type cited_in_report, gold confidence.
- HR 568 — SAFE Act · 118th Cong
- HR 467 — HALT Fentanyl Act · 118th Cong