JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fentanyl overdoses are on the rise across the country. To try and combat the crisis, Florida lawmakers have introduced a bill that would by legalize fentanyl test strips.
The strips allow users to test pills and other substances for fentanyl before taking it. Until that bill passes, the strips are considered drug paraphernalia, making them illegal.
Fentanyl kills more than 150 people in the United States every day, and the synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin. That’s why Tasha Edwards and her family travel the state, raising awareness about the drug that killed her daughter Breanna Scott at only 18-years-old.
Edwards spoke to a group of students Wednesday morning at Andrew Jackson High School in Jacksonville, telling her own heartbreaking story in the hopes that it can save even one young life.
“She did not even consume an entire pill, and it took her life,” Edwards said. “She was not a drug user. She was not a pill popper. She tried it once, and that was it.”
Earlier this week, Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson expressed concern about a scary future – one with mass deaths, if fentanyl poisoning continues trending upwards.
“I’ll tell you what’s scary – I am waiting, I hope it does not come to pass,” Nelson said. “But for a college party or a high school party where kids are using recreational drugs and we have a rash of deaths because those drugs are cut with fentanyl.”
Proposed legislation in the House and Senate, called controlled substance testing, would no longer classify fentanyl test strips as illegal “drug paraphernalia.”
Director of Harm Reduction Legal Project at the Network for Public Health Corey Davis said they’re a harm reduction technique that advocates claim might significantly reduce fentanyl-related deaths.
“Most people are not trying to use fentanyl, right? So it gives them that information: ‘Hey, this is something other than what you thought. You should be careful,’” Davis said.
The strips show one red line if a substance tests positive for fentanyl, and two red lines if it’s negative. Opponents argue the strips enable drug users, but Davis disagrees.
“The evidence just doesn’t support that. You know, people who are opioid dependent are going to use opioids,” Davis said. “Fentanyl test strips just help keep them alive until they are ready and able to access drug treatment.”
The bill passed in the Florida Senate unanimously in March. Now it’s back in the House, for a second reading.