NEWS RELEASE: Senator Moody Continues Fight to End the Fentanyl Crisis, Passing Cosponsored Legislation Aimed at Reducing Overdose Deaths Out of Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Senator Ashley Moody is continuing the fight to end the opioid crisis, passing legislation she cosponsored to help medical professionals better detect when a patient is experiencing fentanyl poisoning. Tyler's Law, which recently passed out of the Senate, directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on whether hospital emergency departments should implement fentanyl testing as a routine procedure for patients experiencing an overdose. It is named after a California teenager who died from fentanyl poisoning after a standard drug test at the hospital failed to detect fentanyl. Senator Moody is a cosponsor of the legislation and helped to shepherd the bill out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Senator Ashley Moody said, "As Attorney General, I fought to stop the death and destruction caused by the opioid crisis. During that time, Florida led the nation in fentanyl interdiction operations. I launched a program to ensure first responders had access to Narcan, and we took the Biden administration to court to force action at the border and stop the trafficking of deadly drugs from Mexico.

"Now, as a U.S. Senator, I'm continuing that fight. We passed the HALT Fentanyl Act to give federal prosecutors stronger tools to hold drug traffickers accountable, and the Tyler's Law will help medical professionals quickly identify when someone is experiencing fentanyl poisoning. We have made significant progress, but this fight is far from over. I will continue working to protect Floridians from this deadly drug."

Tyler's Law would:

• Require a Study of Fentanyl Testing - HHS would assess current hospital emergency department fentanyl testing rates, costs, and benefits.
• Provide Guidance to Medical Professionals - HHS would issue recommendations for routine fentanyl testing in hospitals.
• Enhance Diagnosis & Treatment of Fentanyl Overdose - The bill aims to improve fentanyl exposure diagnosis and guide prevention and treatment efforts.

Full bill text can be found here.

As Florida's Attorney General, Senator Moody:

• Chaired the Statewide Task Force on Opioid Drug Abuse and assembled a working group of experts to identify strategies and best practices for addressing the crisis.
• Secured a massive multibillion-dollar settlement from major opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies.
• Demanded Biden classify illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction and declare Mexican drug cartels smuggling fentanyl into the country as terrorist organizations. Two actions President Trump quickly executed during his first months in office.
• Created the Helping Heroes program to provide free naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversal medication, to law enforcement and first responders across the state.

One of Senator Moody's first actions in the Senator was supporting the HALT Fentanyl Act to permanently place fentanyl-related substances as a class into Schedule I and enhance criminal penalties for traffickers.

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