Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen issued the following statement:

“Sadly, in 2017, more than 1,000 Americans died every two weeks from fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances. In an effort to combat this deadly drug epidemic, DOJ’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in February 2018 issued a temporary emergency two-year order that made illegal all fentanyl-related substances. Our country has seen a marked supply impact from DEA’s temporary scheduling of fentanyl-related substances during the past two years, with a 50 percent decrease in fentanyl-related substances encountered across the United States. However, DEA’s emergency authority expires at midnight on February 6, 2020, unless Congress acts to extend it.

“On January 16, 2020, the Senate unanimously passed a commonsense, bipartisan 15-month extension of DEA’s temporary scheduling of fentanyl-related substances (S.3201). It is essential that House leadership now schedule a vote to do the same.

“If the House fails to act by midnight on February 6, traffickers of deadly opioids will again have the upper hand. This cannot be allowed to happen. The House of Representatives needs to act to help save Americans from more overdoses and deaths.”

See relevant op-eds on the fentanyl topic:

Attorney General William P. Barr op-ed.

U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan op-ed.

U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman op-ed.

U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch op-ed.

U.S. Attorneys for each New England District op-ed.