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State lawmakers are to be commended for working quickly on bills from both the Senate and House of Delegates that would remove fentanyl test strips from the definition in state code for drug paraphernalia.
House Bill 4429, which the House Committee on Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse recommended for passage on Wednesday, and Senate Bill 269, for which the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended a committee substitute Wednesday, would allow for the sale, possession and distribution of fentanyl test strips. They would clarify that these test strips are not prohibited under the state's Uniform Controlled Substances statutes.
Overdose deaths began to spike again in West Virginia going into 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachel Thaxton, interim director of the Office of Drug Control Policy, told committee members.
"The effects of COVID-19 coupled with a surge of fentanyl in the drug supply created that deadly and aggressive trend in overdoses you see in 2020 and 2021," Thaxton said.
According to the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy, there were 1,134 lethal fentanyl overdoses in 2021 -- more than 75% of the state's total 1,507 fatal drug overdoses that year and 91% of all fatal opioid overdoses. There has been a nearly 92% increase in fatal fentanyl overdoses from five years ago.
Both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommend distribution of fentanyl test strips as a form of harm reduction. They could save lives, particularly because, as Thaxton points out, "The drug trends in West Virginia and across the country are evolving every day."
Reasonable and compassionate lawmakers will surely see the need to evolve as well, and ensure these bills keep up their momentum.