KY advocates: HALT Fentanyl Act won’t address root causes of substance use
The federal HALT Fentanyl Act advancing through Congress would increase prison time for fentanyl traffickers.
Kentuckians convicted on distribution charges involving more than 10 grams of fentanyl would receive at least five years in prison, or no fewer than 10 if they had a prior conviction. For cases involving larger amounts of the substance and a second conviction, the minimum sentence would be 20 years.
Shreeta Waldon, executive director of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, said the legislation will have little effect on helping individuals and families who lives are affected by substance use.
“It’s been a failed concept but we continue to try to use that same concept with different language,” Waldon contended. “We’re just dealing with the War on Drugs 2.0.”
According to the 2023 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report, nearly 2,000 Kentuckians lost their lives last year to a drug overdose. Fentanyl accounted for almost 80% of those deaths, and methamphetamine accounted for around 55%.
Waldon pointed out a lack of education about fentanyl and other drugs has contributed to a spike in use among the Commonwealth’s youngest residents, despite an overall decline in fentanyl-related death rates statewide.
“Now we’re seeing more and more reports of youth who are having building an inappropriate relationship with substance,” Waldon reported. “That is a big issue in our larger cities like Louisville and Lexington.”
She added a major concern is the dwindling local resources for harm reduction strategies, noting recently passed state laws to criminalize camping and homelessness have created additional barriers.
“We’re penalizing poverty,” Waldon argued. “We’re penalizing substance use disorder or chaotic use. We’re penalizing people who do not realize the access to resources around them because of messaging, because of stigma, because of shame.”
The HALT Fentanyl Act would reclassify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs. Currently, fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance. In 2021, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration made more than 3,000 arrests nationwide for fentanyl.
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