Leaders to be applauded for work to legalize fentanyl test strips

Not exactly a top performing list anyone would wish to find themselves on.

This situation is deadly and urgent in Galveston County.

Kathryn Cunningham, director of the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Center for Addiction Research, is loudly ringing the alarm bell.

“Texas, which is the second most populous state in the country, has seen a 70 percent increase in overdoses between 2020 and 2022,” Cunningham said.

“If you look per capita, the overdose deaths here are more than Harris County,” she said, referring to Galveston County and noting the data was two years old.

Street drugs are always dangerous, but to some users, the risk is part of the high. Their behavior is anchored in the neurons between their ears. Dependency is a terrible thing, requiring a complex approach and treatment.

But recent Galveston County deaths of more casual or recreational users because of fentanyl underscore the need to make an inexpensive and easily distributed testing strip available to the public. Currently, these tools are highly-restricted and classified by the state as drug paraphernalia. This needs to change.

Inexpensive and effective testing strips should be declassified as illegal drug paraphernalia and moved to a category allowing public distribution. This can happen through our local state legislators supporting such actions and sending a final bill for Gov. Greg Abbott to sign.

As of this writing, both state Sen. Mayes Middleton and state Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson are committed to getting such a bill to Abbott’s desk.

Middleton confirmed to The Daily News he is co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate. Leo-Wilson introduced the companion bill in the House this week.

Both are to be applauded for their responsiveness and courage to step forward on behalf of our communities. Good government works like this — elected officials listening and recognizing the concerns of their community. And to their credit, neither Middleton nor Leo-Wilson hesitated to jump in and help.

The Daily News in no way encourages the use of illicit drugs. We echo Cunningham, who warned that no street drug is safe right now. Fentanyl is everywhere and it kills.

Although fentanyl has many legitimate uses in a controlled medical environment, it’s being illegally mixed into darn near any street drug because it’s inexpensive and easy to produce.

It’s being mocked up to look like Adderall and Xanax, which, like it or not, are very popular among young people.

As little as 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 15 grains of table salt, could be a lethal dose, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The best policy is to avoid it all together by avoiding street drugs.

We know people, young people especially, don’t make good decisions.

Should a bad decision, a lapse in judgment, be a death sentence for some curious kid?

Is there some public good in that?

We don’t think so.

Legalizing fentanyl test strips won’t necessarily save all or perhaps any of the people inclined to experiment with street drugs.

But society will have given them an effective, inexpensive way to prevent killing themselves.

We do see public good in that.

We should support both Middleton and Leo-Wilson in making sure the reclassification bill makes it to the governor’s desk for signature.

While a small gesture in a great big problem, the governor’s signature will be one more tool to fight needless overdoses in our community.

• Leonard Woolsey