AP sources: Tool behind crackdown on opioids could expire
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has been slow-walking its work on the extension of a legislative order that would keep in place a sweeping tool that’s helped federal agents crack down on drugs chemically similar to fentanyl, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. In recent weeks, the people said, the White House and Justice Department leaders have, on several occasions, canceled meetings with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration to discuss the plan around so-called fentanyl analogues, which are generally foreign-made drugs with a very close chemical makeup to the dangerous opioid. The Biden administration will need to either quickly move forward to lobby Congress to pass another extension, propose a permanent legislative solution that could quickly pass the House and the Senate or put a plan in place to prosecute cases involving the synthetic opioids if the temporary authorization expires. The Justice Department during President Donald Trump’s administration lobbied to make the ban permanent, putting fentanyl analogues in the same legal category as heroin and cocaine forever. “We will work with Congress to seek a clean, seven-month extension to prevent this important law enforcement tool from lapsing while we address legitimate concerns related to mandatory minimums and researcher access to these substances,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
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