New fentanyl law aimed at cracking down on overdoses in the U.S.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed into law the HALT Fentanyl Act.

“We’ve got to be aggressive, we’ve got to take the offense and not just play defense,” Senator Tommy Tuberville said.

Tuberville says President Trump signing the HALT fentanyl act into law finally takes the right approach to slow fentanyl deaths in America.

Jay Town saw the growth in Fentanyl use over his time as a U.S. attorney.

“Back in 2017, methamphetamine was killing 40,000 people a year; fentanyl has doubled that,” Town said.

Over the months of May and June, HEMSI officials say they administered the overdose-reversing drug Narcan 100 times - that works out to be about 2 to 3 times a day.

According to the Madison County coroner, a person overdoses and dies once every 4 days; 90% of the time, fentanyl is involved.

“This is a multi-billion-dollar, a multi-national corporation, the drug cartels, and this just put a big hit on them,” Town said. “They have some of the world’s best scientists.”

The law makes any form of fentanyl a Schedule I controlled substance. Town says this addresses a common occurrence among producers.

“They change a chemical or amount of a chemical so that the actual synthetic nature of it is different,” Town said. “Now any analogue of fentanyl is fentanyl.”

Also, if you’re in possession of 100mg of fentanyl, you’ll face a minimum 10-year prison sentence.

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