Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella has joined twenty-two of his fellow attorneys general in a letter urging the leadership in the U.S. Senate to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act  immediately. The legislation would permanently schedule all current and future fentanyl analogues as Schedule I drugs, giving law enforcement the appropriate tools they need to crack down on the epidemic by stopping the flow of the dangerous drugs developed to imitate fentanyl (although not chemically identical).

"Families here in the Granite State and across our country are being devastated by fentanyl. This deadly synthetic opioid has been fueling a national opioid crisis for nearly a decade, and fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49," said Attorney General Formella. "From Mexican drug cartels and Chinese chemical companies that produce it, to the networks and murderers that deliver fentanyl – we must do more to stop these forces. They threaten our public health, safety, and our national security. We need every possible federal action to be taken to help us fight against the production and trafficking of this dangerous drug in order to save lives and protect our communities."

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed this bill with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, and the coalition of attorneys general hope the Senate does the same.

"The United States is experiencing a cataclysmic surge of overdose deaths due to the lethal amounts of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances that cross the southwestern land border unimpeded. Each year, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues kill Americans at a rate that rivals World War II or the Civil War. Just last year, drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl caused 66% of those overdose deaths," the attorneys general wrote.