When the New Year begins next week, a new law will take effect that was authored by state representative Jim Struzzi concerning the fight against drug deaths caused by fentanyl.
Struzzi’s bill, House Bill 1393, was passed unanimously in the State House and Senate in late October, and was signed into law on November 3rd by Governor Tom Wolf. The law removes fentanyl test strips from a list of items that’s defined as drug paraphernalia. Fentanyl is often added to heroin or other drugs to increase its potency without anyone’s knowledge. There has been a surge of deaths over the past few years due to mixes of fentanyl and heroin.
Struzzi said that the new law will save lives.
The State Health Department said that over the last year, 78% of the over 5,000 overdose deaths in the state involved fentanyl.
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