Over 100 civil rights groups, advocacy groups, and public health officials etc, together have collectively written a letter urging the Biden administration to let the temporary class-wide emergency scheduling of fentanyl-related substances come to a finish in May when it expires.
But there is some concern that Biden might extend that temporary scheduling and continue with anti-drug laws that many criminal justice advocates say is the wrong move to make.
We already know that those anti drug laws do more harm than good and cost community a bankrupting amount, if they were to continue blindly with their war on drug policies as usual. Slowly things are changing but still victimless activities like these are being heavily policed in the U.S. and elsewhere. But those who are in favor of continuing the war on drugs charade are having a hard time arguing the evidence of its continued failure.
The Biden administration has suggested they want to push for drug policy reform and enhance harm reduction efforts as well as expand access to treatment, so it wouldn't go in-line with their previously announced strategy for drug policy if they do extend that temporary scheduling.
Despite the opposition and common sense criticism against extending it, it's expected that they will announce their support for such a move. This policy is one which expands mandatory minimum sentencing for fentanyl-related substances and reportedly gives the DEA unlimited power to determine the legality of those substances. Many see it as a return to the old drug war sentencing and strict punishment approach, contrary to what the Biden administration has been talking about.
In the letter those groups ask the administration let the policy expire, noting:
Class-wide scheduling would exacerbate pretrial
detention, mass incarceration and racial disparities in the prison system, doubling down on a fear-based, enforcement-first response to a public health challenge... Lawmakers should instead support legislation grounded in public health and evidence-based approaches to illicit fentanyl-related overdose deaths