Advocacy Alert: February 2023 Advocacy Update for NBHAP Members

February 15, 2023

Greetings, BHAP Members!

On behalf of Slingshot Solutions, thank you for your membership in NBHAP and your commitment to advocacy that will shape the future of behavioral health. As your advocate in Washington, D.C., it is my responsibility to keep you informed when it comes to policy developments, and to represent your interests before the federal government. We do this by working with Congress, the White House and executive agencies, and other interest groups and coalitions.

Andrew Kessler
Principal
Slingshot Solutions LLC

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As the 118th Congress begins its work, one of the leading policy issues is the role of fentanyl in the current overdose crisis. Fentanyl is found in approximately 70% of all fatal overdoses, and Congress apparently has interest in addressing this problem. However, the two parties are in stark disagreement over the best policies for achieving this.

Not only are there two bills on the horizon to address fentanyl, but they also even have the same acronym. First is the “Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of Fentanyl Act of 2023” or the “STOP Fentanyl Act of 2023”. This bill was introduced in the last Congress by Reps. Kuster (D-NH) and Blunt-Rochester (D-DE) and there are plans to have it re-introduced shortly. It calls upon the National Academy of Medicine to submit to the Congress a report on overdose prevention centers, and include in such report a review of the effectiveness of legally authorized overdose prevention centers in the United States and abroad on lowering overdose deaths, as well as an assessment of the effectiveness of overdose prevention centers on improving access to medication-assisted treatment and recovery services. It would require manufacturers of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone to report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services the total expenditures of the manufacturer on materials and manufacturing for the drug, as well as expenditures for acquiring patents and licensing costs to purchase or acquire the drug from another company. The Secretary would be required to make this information available to the public. It provides for “Good Samaritan” protections nationwide for those who administer naloxone and would also eliminate the requirement that a person became addicted at least one year before admission for maintenance treatment under an opioid treatment program.

Another STOP Act, by Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Jim Banks (R-IN) has already been introduced in the current Congress, and it has a very different set of priorities. The Standardizing Thresholds of Penalties for (STOP) Fentanyl Act seeks to reduce the threshold for mandatory minimum penalties for fentanyl-related offenses, putting it on par with quantity thresholds for another deadly drug, methamphetamine. In short, the bill seeks to create harsher jail sentences for fentanyl possession, following the failed philosophy of the “War on Drugs” we witnessed many decades ago. Currently, to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence under the Controlled Substances Act, an offense must involve 400 or more grams of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl. Because the average lethal dose of fentanyl is 2 milligrams, the offense would need to contain roughly 200,000 lethal doses in order to trigger the 10-year mandatory minimum. By comparison, to trigger the 10-year mandatory minimum for methamphetamine, the offense would have to involve at least 500 grams, which contains roughly 2,500 lethal doses. NBHAP will not endorse such an approach, as there is no evidence whatsoever that stricter incarceration penalties are a deterrent to drug trafficking or use.

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Questions? Concerns?

As always, we want your input. What topics would you like to see us cover in future Advocacy Alerts? If you are a representative of a state association and have something for us to consider for an Advocacy Alert, let us know! Please contact us with any questions or concerns you have about our advocacy efforts.