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WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-Ind.-08) spoke on the House Floor in support of the HALT Fentanyl Act. This critical legislation would help give law enforcement the tools it needs to get illicit fentanyl off our streets and protect Hoosier communities against losing a family member, friend, or loved one to this lethal drug.  

Click here or on the image below to watch Dr. Bucshon’s remarks in full.

Remarks as prepared for delivery: 

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the HALT Fentanyl Act.

In 2022, roughly 75,000 Americans died from poisoning by synthetic opioids – largely illicit fentanyl or fentanyl related substances.  

Illicit fentanyl poisonings are now the number one cause of death among adults 18-49, as has been pointed out many times. 

The people who have died from illicit fentanyl poisoning are not just statistics; they are someone’s child, sibling, parent, family member, or close friend.  And it’s happening in every community across America. 

It doesn’t discriminate by socioeconomic class, race, or religion.  

Just last week, a federal grand jury indicted a man in Evansville, Indiana – my hometown – for selling counterfeit prescription pills laced with fentanyl over social media that caused at least three poisonings and the death of a 19-year-old woman in 2022.

Last fall, a federal grand jury indicted another man in Evansville who sold fentanyl pills in 2021 that ended up killing a 3-year-old toddler and resulted in non-fatal poisonings of two other children in a home after they found illicit fentanyl pills in a nightstand and took them.

These are heartbreaking stories and we in this body have the power to do something to help prevent more of them from occurring.  

Let’s pass the HALT Fentanyl Act and give hope to Americans whose family, friends, and loved ones who have been impacted by illicit fentanyl poisonings that their loved ones death was not in vain. 

Support this bill. I yield back.