# H.R. 27 (119th): Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act or the HALT Fentanyl Act

Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act or the HALT Fentanyl Act This bill permanently places fentanyl-related substances as a class into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. A schedule I controlled substance is a drug, substance, or chemical that has a high potential for abuse; has no currently accepted medical value; and is subject to regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal penalties under the Controlled Substances Act. Under the bill, offenses involving fentanyl-related substances are triggered by the same quantity thresholds and subject to the same penalties as offenses involving fentanyl analogues (e.g., offenses involving 100 grams or more trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison term). Additionally, the bill establishes a new, alternative registration process for certain schedule I research. The bill also makes several other changes to registration requirements for conducting research with controlled substances, including permitting a single registration for related research sites in certain circumstances, waiving the requirement for a new inspection in certain situations, and allowing a registered researcher to perform certain manufacturing activities with small quantities of a substance without obtaining a manufacturing registration. Finally, the bill expresses the sense that Congress agrees with the interpretation of Controlled Substances Act in United States v. McCray , a 2018 case decided by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. In that case, the court held that butyryl fentanyl, a controlled substance, can be considered an analogue of fentanyl even though, under the Controlled Substances Act, the term controlled substance analogue specifically excludes a controlled substance.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: abuse_accountability. Category: justice_truth. Lane tag: general equity.
Lane: controlled_substances. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: drug_control. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: fentanyl. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: mandatory_minimums. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: sentencing. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 32: On Agreeing to the Amendment. Vote type: amendment.
Roll 33: On Passage. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The core aim of restraining lethal fentanyl trafficking is a legitimate protective good under general equity. However, the bill also expands mandatory minimums and penalty parity, and changes research registration rules. These are prudential and proportionality disputes rather than direct advancement of moral harm, so the measure is best classified as mixed instead of good or evil.
Theological note: Scripture grants government the task of restraining violence and wrongdoing (Romans 13:4), and the trafficking of lethal drugs that kill and destroy families bears on neighbor love and public justice. Whether mandatory minimums, sentence severity, and research registration rules are proportionate is a prudential question of civil equity rather than a direct moral verdict on the measure's core aim.

## Recorded votes

Roll 32: On Agreeing to the Amendment. Yea 182 · Nay 226 · Other 24.
Roll 33: On Passage. Yea 312 · Nay 108 · Other 13.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-27-119/