We Urge President Biden and the DOJ to End Classwide Scheduling of Fentanyl-Related Substances

August 24, 2021–Due Process Institute signed a letter with 142 organizations calling for the Biden administration and the Department of Justice to let the temporary “classwide” emergency scheduling of fentanyl-related substances expire on October 22, 2021. Under the classwide control, any offense involving a “fentanyl-related substance” is subject to federal criminal prosecution, even if the substance in question is helpful or has no potential for abuse. The continuation of this policy would further exacerbate pretrial detention, mass incarceration, and racial disparities in the prison system, doubling down on a fear-based, enforcement-first response to a public health challenge. Classwide control could also lead to over-criminalization and prosecutorial misconduct. The federal government must not repeat the decades-old mistakes it made around crack-powder sentencing disparities, but rather it should follow the science and a public health strategy to address the overdose crisis and drug abuse.