Palmetto State News

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, along with representatives from 25 states, has called on the U.S. Senate to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. The proposed legislation aims to address a loophole that allows for the distribution of copycat fentanyl, which poses significant risks to public health.

Since 2018, fentanyl-related deaths in the United States have reached numbers comparable to American casualties in World War II. This crisis is exacerbated by Mexican drug cartels smuggling Chinese-manufactured fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border. From October 2021 to June 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted enough fentanyl to potentially kill the entire U.S. population multiple times over.

Attorney General Wilson emphasized the importance of this legislation by stating, “There is no reason anyone should be against this law.” He highlighted that fentanyl and its analogs are responsible for more deaths in South Carolina than any other drug.

Copycat fentanyl or fentanyl analogs are synthetic drugs designed to circumvent current U.S. laws. These substances can be even more dangerous than prescription-grade fentanyl. The HALT Fentanyl Act seeks to permanently classify these analogs as Schedule I drugs, thereby closing a legal loophole and empowering law enforcement agencies to take action against those distributing or using these hazardous substances.

The HALT Fentanyl Act has already received strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and now awaits consideration in the Senate.

The initiative was co-led by Iowa and Virginia and includes participation from states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.