HR27-119

What This Bill Does

The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently places fentanyl-related substances in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act through a structural class definition. Section 2 covers materials, compounds, mixtures, preparations, salts, isomers, and salts of isomers containing fentanyl-related substances unless exempted or listed in another schedule. It defines fentanyl-related substances by specified modifications to fentanyl's phenethyl group, piperidine ring, aniline ring, and N-propionyl group, and lets the Attorney General publish a Federal Register list without making absence from the list defeat control status. Section 3 creates faster research pathways for schedule I studies tied to FDA investigational use exemptions or HHS, DOD, or VA research support, allowing registered practitioners to proceed after notice and unregistered practitioners to apply without a separate protocol review by the Attorney General. Sections 5, 6, and 7 require rulemaking, add fentanyl-related substances to Controlled Substances Act and import-export penalty provisions, apply the amendments immediately, and endorse the McCray interpretation for pre-enactment fentanyl-analogue cases.

Who Benefits and How

DEA schedulers, federal prosecutors, U.S. Attorneys' Offices, narcotics investigators, communities affected by fentanyl overdoses, FDA-linked researchers, HHS-funded researchers, DOD-funded researchers, VA-funded researchers, university research institutions, pharmaceutical researchers, and pain or overdose-treatment researchers benefit from permanent class control, clearer charging rules, immediate applicability, and reduced schedule I research-registration friction.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Illicit fentanyl analogue manufacturers, fentanyl analogue traffickers, fentanyl analogue importers, chemical companies working with fentanyl-adjacent compounds, pharmaceutical companies handling controlled analogues, defendants in pending fentanyl cases, criminal defense attorneys, the Attorney General, DEA registration staff, HHS verification staff, DOD research administrators, and VA research administrators must comply with permanent schedule I status, penalty exposure, rulemaking, notice verification, state-law authorization checks, and immediate applicability.

Key Provisions

• Adds fentanyl-related substances to schedule I using a structural class definition.
• Authorizes the Attorney General to publish Federal Register lists of substances meeting the definition without making the list exclusive.
• Creates a notice-based pathway for registered schedule I or II researchers conducting FDA, HHS, DOD, or VA-linked schedule I research.
• Limits Attorney General protocol review for qualifying unregistered researchers who apply to conduct covered research.
• Requires interim final and final rulemaking to implement the Act.
• Adds fentanyl-related substances to federal trafficking and import-export penalty provisions and applies the amendments immediately.