Congressman Tim Moore Votes to Pass the HALT Fentanyl Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman Tim Moore (NC-14) voted in favor of H.R. 27, the HALT Fentanyl Act, which passed the House in a bipartisan vote. This legislation would give law enforcement the tools they need to combat the fentanyl crisis devastating communities in North Carolina and across the country.

“Fentanyl is wreaking havoc on our communities, killing North Carolinians at an alarming rate and tearing families apart — it has to stop,” said Congressman Moore. “The bipartisan HALT Fentanyl Act ensures that the criminals who traffic and sell this deadly drug face the toughest penalties possible. We need to give law enforcement the tools they need to fight back, strengthen border security, and take down the cartels responsible for flooding our communities with fentanyl.”

Specifically, the HALT Fentanyl Act will permanently extend President Trump’s 2018 Schedule I classification under the Controlled Substances Act, ensuring law enforcement has the authority to prosecute traffickers to the fullest extent. It closes legal loopholes that allow traffickers to alter fentanyl compounds to evade law enforcement and strengthens public health protections while maintaining safeguards for legitimate medical research.

Key Background: 

• In 2023, more than 107,000 people died of drug overdoses; roughly 75,000 of whom died from synthetic opioids—largely illicit fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances.
• Illicit fentanyl poisoning deaths among teens accounted for 77% of adolescent overdose deaths in 2021.
• Illicit fentanyl poisonings are now the number one cause of death among adults 18-49— more than cancer, heart disease, and car accidents.
• Fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances (substances that have a similar chemical structure to fentanyl but are not identical) are 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and easier to produce than cocaine or heroin. Since small doses of fentanyl are extremely potent, it’s easier to illegally smuggle small batches across the border.
• Recently, Border Patrol has seized record amounts of fentanyl, but enough still enters the U.S. to kill every American many times over.
• Currently, fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances temporarily fall under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act due to an emergency order that expires on March 31, 2025. If the emergency class-wide scheduling order expires: 
  • Many fentanyl-related substances will become street-legal, meaning law enforcement has no authority to seize these extremely lethal drugs.
• Drug traffickers will be empowered to push deadlier drugs on our streets, skirting federal law by changing as little as one molecule in the fentanyl formula to create legal variations.  
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection will lose the authority to seize these substances crossing the border.