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Madison, Wisconsin — Emergency room doctors in Oconomowoc recently visited Capitol Hill to urge Congress to follow in Wisconsin’s footsteps as part of an effort to keep fentanyl-related substances (FRS) off the streets.
FRS is a highly active opioid, much like fentanyl, a drug commonly used for severe pain.
The problem is that simply tweaking the chemical composition of FRS creates a drug as deadly as fentanyl. Without proper legislation, it becomes legal.
That’s why Dr. Tim Westlake has made it his mission to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to keeping communities safe.
“If it’s fentanyl, this bag of sugar would be enough to kill 2,000 people,” Westlake told Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee at a roundtable last week.
Westlake is a leading proponent of opioid reform in Wisconsin. He helped create a bill signed by former Gov. Scott Walker in 2017 to outlaw all variations of fentanyl.
Dr. Tim Westlake holds a packet of sugar to demonstrate the potency of fentanyl-related substances. (House Committee on Energy and Commerce)
“Before that, scheduling a new fentanyl was like a deadly game of whack-a-mole,” Westlake explained to members of Congress. I had to wait for
That’s because changing just one ingredient in a drug’s chemical composition was legal before the law was passed.
Shortly thereafter, in 2018, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) temporarily adopted the policy. But Congress has yet to make it permanent.
“Some opponents of the FRS scheduling point to the recent surge in deaths from illicit fentanyl as evidence that it doesn’t work. misinterprets the facts,” Westlake said in his opening remarks. “The FRS schedule does not address illegal fentanyl. It removes the incentives for transnational criminal gangs to create new fentanyl-related substances, thus preventing them from existing in the first place.”
This policy is not intended to be a law enforcement tool or to be used as a method of putting people in jail. There were only eight cases, half of which had previously been known to be associated with drug cartels.
Dr. Tim Westlake shares his experience working with fentanyl-related substances as an emergency physician. (Spectrum News 1)
“You don’t actually die for something that was never created, and you don’t get jailed for trafficking something that doesn’t exist,” Westlake said. “This is the simplicity and beauty of FRS scheduling.”
Westlake now wants Wisconsin’s law to become permanent federal policy.
“This is a personal thing for me to do what I can to stop it,” Westlake said. There is a demand for , but we can stop this.
Last week’s roundtable was fairly informal, but more hurdles lie ahead. Westlake said the policy has replicated several times over the past few years, indicating a willingness among lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to do something about the issue.
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