The HALT Fentanyl Act was introduced by Senators Grassley, Cassidy and Heinrich in January, it advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, was passed by the Senate in March and is now law.  The HALT stands for Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl. 

Senator Grassley spoke on why this act is important, and the impact it will have for Americans, “Out of one hundred thousand drug overdose about 70% of them come from fentanyl overdose. And probably a lot of those deaths come because people don’t know that another drug has fentanyl mixed in with it. Here’s the problem, we’ve had fentanyl type legislation that can halt fentanyl for about 7, 8, 9 years, but it’s been done on an extended basis. In other words, maybe we extend the law for a year, and then it runs out and you have to extend it again and there is always problems doing that. This is a permanent thing so it doesn’t have to be changed, or not changed, continued from year to year.” 

The bipartisan bill is supported by over 40 major advocacy groups, including a coalition of over 200 impacted family groups, and law enforcement organizations representing over a million officers.