Tennessee Senate okays fentanyl test-strip bill

Fentanyl testing strips moved one step to no longer being illegal in Tennessee after the Senate passed a bill to legalize the harm-reduction tool used to fight the growing opioid crisis.

The bill, HB2177, would exclude fentanyl testing strips from the classification of drug paraphernalia. The bill makes it illegal to own the strips if someone has them while also intending to sell drugs.

The strips allow people to test drugs, like part of a pill, before taking it.

Sen. Richard Briggs, R-knoxville, and Rep. Williams Lamberth, R-portland, sponsored the bill, with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services advocating for its passage.

The legislation comes as Tennessee faces a growing crisis related to overdoses deaths, almost entirely linked to fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opiate.

The number of overdose deaths each year has nearly doubled in Tennessee over the past five years, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data analyzed by The Tennessean.

Over 3,000 people died from overdose deaths in Tennessee 2020, the last year available to track.

Fentanyl went from being a cause in 1 out of 6 overdose deaths in 2015 to 4 out of 6 in 2020.

To combat the growing crisis, addiction specialists have turned to harmreducing policies, like fentanyl testing strips, to stem the number of accidental overdose deaths.

Accidental fentanyl overdoses — when someone takes a drug thinking it’s one type, but is actually fentanyl — has been particularly noticeable in the deaths of some young adults.

The testing strips can be purchased online for less than $1 and are legal in several other states.

Legalizing it will allow nonprofits and local health departments to purchase the strips to give away.

Sen. Joey Hensley, R-hohenwald, opposed the bill, comparing the strips to needle exchange programs.

Briggs said multiple studies show that strips help reduce overdose deaths.

“Albert Einstein says insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Briggs said. “We are trying something different. It may make it worse, or it may make it better, but doing nothing has been shown not to work.”

The bill passed the Senate in a 27-3 vote. The bill has already passed a key House committee and is awaiting a date for a vote before the full House.

Adam Friedman is The Tennessean’s state government and politics reporter. Reach him by email at afriedman@tennessean.com.

NICOLE KI/ARGUS LEADER At-home fentanyl test strips, provided by the Center for Family Medicine, with informational flyers of how to use them aim to address a rise in fentanyl adulterated in local drugs supplies on Dec. 14, 2021.