With fentanyl driving fatal overdoses to record levels in the U.S., state governments are scrambling for solutions
Advocates say test strips can help prevent accidental overdoses of drugs laced with fentanyl. The strips are given out at needle exchanges and sometimes at concerts or other events where drugs are expected to be sold or used.
In West Virginia, the state hardest hit by opioids per capita, lawmakers passed a bill this month to legalize the testing strips. It now heads to the governor. “This is sending messages to those who aren’t afraid of selling these drugs that there’s a longer, bigger penalty than you might think,” said Nguyen, whose bill failed to advance from her chamber's public safety committee in a 5-2 vote last week. She said after the bill failed that she was considering trying again.“The less available these pills are out there, the better it is,” Nguyen said. “And that is going after the drug dealer.
Under state law, possession with intent to distribute less than 14 grams of fentanyl is an offense normally punishable by two to four years in prison. But fentanyl is so potent that 14 grams can represent up to 700 lethal doses, under a calculation used by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. “We have the largest incarceration rate in the entire world and we’re also setting records in terms of overdose deaths," she said.
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