Say what you will about the 88th Legislature, at least lawmakers got the message about the need to fight the dangers of fentanyl.
While a bill to decriminalize fentanyl testing strips did not pass the Senate, four other critical fentanyl-fighting measures were approved.
Why the concern about the synthetic opioid?
Pharmaceutical fentanyl legally is used to treat extreme pain after surgery and cancer protocols. However, an illegal version is being manufactured and smuggled into the United States from Mexico by criminal groups.
Fentanyl can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. More than 2,000 Texans’ lives were claimed by fentanyl poisonings in 2022.
Fentanyl deaths are not tragedies that happen elsewhere. Families in eastern Williamson County have also had their hearts broken by the deadly drug.
In fact, in the wake of those fatalities, the victims’ survivors banded together with activist groups such as Texans Against Fentanyl to push for legislation to help protect the populace against the counterfeit pills and more. Those efforts led to critical reforms, including creating a criminal offense of murder for supplying fentanyl that results in death, enhancing the criminal penalty for the manufacture or delivery of fentanyl, and requiring fatalities caused by fentanyl to be designated as fentanyl toxicity or fentanyl poisoning.
Other legislation establishes October as Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month; creates Tucker’s Law requiring public schools each year to provide instruction on fentanyl-abuse prevention and drug-poisoning awareness to students; and allows the distribution of Narcan, which stops opioid overdoses, on Texas colleges and universities.
Legislators and these families should be applauded.
Thomas Edwards
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