for violators of the law. The HALT Fentanyl Act reduces the amount of these drugs someone needs to be caught with to trigger those sentences.
“We cannot continue to play this whack-a-mole because we know that what comes next is always going to be more intense and more deadly,” said Jasmine Budnella, director of drug policy at Vocal NY, a local advocacy group that signedurging lawmakers to oppose the HALT Fentanyl Act ahead of the House vote this week. “Supply-side criminalization does not work.”
We’re in this moment where, both at the state level and at the federal level, there is this coupling of harm reduction and criminalization as though they are complementary...“We’re in this moment where, both at the state level and at the federal level, there is this coupling of harm reduction and criminalization as though they are complementary, when actually, they're in complete opposition,” said Toni Smith, the New York director of the Drug Policy Alliance.
Hochul's office did not respond directly when asked whether she supports the attorney general’s move. Rather, spokesperson Aja Worthy-Davis pointed to an initiative Hochul announced this week to boost access to xylazine test strips – a measure that falls in the realm of harm reduction.