FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 8, 2023
CONTACT: Tony Mangan, Communications Manager, 605-773-6878

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has joined 22 other Attorneys General in asking the U.S. Senate leadership to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act.

This legislation would permanently schedule all current and future fentanyl analogues as Schedule I drugs, which are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. That designation would allow for the criminal prosecution of anyone caught possessing, distributing, or manufacturing illicit variations of the drug.

“So far this year, there have been 81 arrests made for fentanyl in South Dakota and that number continues to climb,” said Attorney General Jackley. “We need to take a stronger stand against fentanyl analogues being brought into this country, and this legislation does that.”

The bill has already passed the U.S. House.

Attorneys Generals from other states who signed the bill were from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The full letter can be read here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/state-attorneys-general-letter-to-senate-re-halt-fentanyl-act-(06-01-23).pdf?sfvrsn=69f879cc_2

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