Booker Unites Broad Spectrum of Support Behind New Legislation Requiring Scientific and Medical Studies to Develop Treatments for Opioid Overdoses

TEST Act will extend temporary class-wide scheduling of fentanyl analogues and encourage research, require DOJ to conduct scientific evaluations

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) announced the Temporary Emergency Scheduling and Testing (TEST) of Fentanyl Analogues Act, legislation that would extend the temporary class-wide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances for two years and also require the Department of Justice to conduct a scientific and medical evaluation of these substances to encourage research so that the scientific and medical communities can study and develop treatments for fentanyl-related substances.

“Temporary scheduling alone is a failed experiment that hasn’t curbed the devastation the opioid crisis has brought on countless families in the United States. So it isn’t enough to just extend the class-wide scheduling of fentanyl analogues again and hope for a different result,” said Senator Booker. “Temporary scheduling has also preemptively criminalized potentially life-saving antidotes to fentanyl overdoses and impeded the medical, research, and scientific community’s ability to develop the solutions we need to effectively tackle this crisis.

“A better approach driven by data, science, and medicine will save lives. My common-sense legislation supported by a broad spectrum of groups working to end the opioid crisis will extend temporary scheduling for two years while also requiring the same scientific evaluation of fentanyl analogues as other controlled substances, so we can understand their pharmacological effect and open up new, promising avenues to developing therapies that can combat addiction and the devastation it causes.”

“Families devastated by the overdose epidemic deserve real solutions, not politicians using our tragedies to continue the failed war on drugs,” said Gretchen Bergman, co-founder and lead organizer of Moms United To End the War on Drugs. “As a parent of two sons who have struggled with substance use disorders, I know that lengthy prison sentences are no cure. Senator Cory Booker’s TEST Act recognizes that compassionate and proven public health solutions, not criminalizing communities, are our best bet to save lives, and I am proud to support him in this effort. For the sake of the thousands of moms whose children were taken from them too soon, and for the moms who don’t want their children to be another statistic, this bill is our only hope in this bleak crisis. I’m so thankful for leaders like Senator Booker who are fighting for me, my children, and the countless others who are affected by the overdose epidemic.”

“The TEST Act is a smart, much-needed approach to fentanyl-related substances that would help the government identify which substances need to be prohibited or strictly controlled but also determine which substances are harmless or may even have medical benefits,” said Jason Pye, Director of Rule of Law Initiatives at the Due Process Institute. “Unfortunately, because all fentanyl-related substances have been scheduled class-wide as if they are all the same, the bureaucratic hurdles that researchers face delay vital research. Importantly, what research has been conducted shows us that not all fentanyl-related substances are harmful. In fact, one substance has been shown to have similar properties to naloxone, which is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Other fentanyl-related substances, according to one Office of National Drug Control Policy official, may be as harmless as water. Congress has to stop treating this issue as a political bludgeon and instead legislate responsibly. The TEST Act offers a commonsense path forward on fentanyl-related substances that would benefit society and save lives. We hope members of Congress decide to end the gamesmanship and work together to adopt this plan.”

“Our country vitally needs a solution to the continued harms communities are facing because of the opioid crisis,” said Jeremiah Mosteller, Senior Policy Analyst at Americans for Prosperity. “Each year more than 50,000 individuals die from a synthetic opioid overdose. The reactionary policies previously adopted by Congress have failed to have any impact and deaths from fentanyl analogues have spiked in recent years. It is time for a different, measured solution that reflects the complicated and complex nature of these substances. The TEST Act reasonably balances the needs for an immediate response with the need to better understand this whole class of substances and their potential harmful and helpful effects. We cannot keep kicking the can down the road as our family, friends, and neighbors are dying.”

In September, members of the scientific and medical communities urged President Biden to reconsider making permanent the temporary class-wide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances until data related to the pharmacological effect and epidemiological data of these substances is publicly reported.

Last week, public health organizations and science-based institutions urged Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to pass the TEST Act before the temporary fentanyl-related substances class-wide scheduling policy expires on December 31^st.

Organizations endorsing the TEST Act include: Americans for Prosperity, AIDS United, Drug Policy Alliance, Due Process Institute, Human Rights Watch, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, R Street, and Vera Institute.

The full text of the legislation can be found here.

The summary of the legislation can be found here.

The letter from scientists and public health professionals to President Biden can be found here.

The letter from public health organizations and science-based institutions to Senators Schumer, McConnell, Durbin, and Grassley can be found here.