Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Chair, 6 months ago I received an email from Ray Cullen, a resident of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, who, along with his wife, Deb, had raised their kids in my district, Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District.

Ray told the story of his son, Zach, who last year was out with a bunch of buddies when he was sold cocaine that was laced with fentanyl, unfortunately, a deadly poison that claimed Zach's life. Zach didn't know that the drugs that he and his friends had purchased were laced with this deadly synthetic opioid.

Because of how lethal the drug is in small quantities, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 49. It was Franklin County Coroner Jeff Conner who put it so bluntly to me. He said: ``Fentanyl is easy to get and it is fast to kill.''

The Cullens reached out to share the memory of their son because they wanted to make a difference. They wanted to make sure that the pain that they were feeling was not shared by parents anywhere else in Pennsylvania or anywhere else in our country.

Now, on the eve of the HALT Fentanyl Act vote, we in Congress have a chance to help prevent these needless deaths by passing the HALT Fentanyl Act, legislation to finally classify these deadly fentanyl substances as schedule I narcotics.

Deb and Ray Cullen have traveled and presented their case before the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee of Health. Deb and Ray Cullen will be here tomorrow. They will be in the gallery as we have a choice to make to vote in a bipartisan fashion to halt fentanyl and its deadly cause here in the United States.

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