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Should all fentanyl substances be illegal? Cleveland doctor among over 100 scientists that say no

A UH doctor is one of more than a hundred medical experts who have sent a letter to President Biden and Congress asking for a pause on a proposed law.

CLEVELAND — October is Substance Abuse Prevention month and the CDC just released numbers on overdose deaths in Ohio. 

Things aren't getting much better. 

According to QuoteWizard, last year 5,185 Ohioans died from overdose deaths despite being a 7% decrease in deaths from the year before.

Opioids account for nearly 70% of overdose deaths in the U.S. and there's a proposed law called the Protecting Americans from Fentanyl Trafficking Act that wants to keep all forms of fentanyl illegal. 

On Tuesday, 111 scientists throughout the country called for the immediate testing of fentanyl analogues currently classified as Schedule I in a letter sent to the Biden administration and congressional leaders.  

Dr. Ryan Marino is a medical toxicologist, addiction specialist and emergency physician with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. He says the Trump administration temporarily classified all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I which criminalized thousands of substances, several of which are not harmful or even have the potential to be the next naloxone

The letter makes the case that testing fentanyl analogues for harm or medical benefit would accelerate the development of overdose-reversing medication and ensure that individuals are not unjustly prosecuted for unharmful substances.

But when most of us think of fentanyl, it's street drugs and drug busts that come to mind.  

"I think most people don't realize it's a really important medicine, so it's something we use therapeutically for a variety of reasons everyday," Dr. Marino said. 

Dr. Marino says there are 44 fentanyl molecules in question. The FDA actually studied 25 of them. 

"Only a few of these molecules have actually been tested appropriately to know how they function and one of these molecules we actually know would antagonize or oppose an opioid like fentanyl and function something like narcan," Dr. Marino said.

Narcan or Naloxone is the go-to overdose reversal drug, but sometimes it's not strong enough to reverse a fentanyl overdose. 

Dr. Marino says that's why it's so important to study the fentanyl analogues to see if they have any potential before making them illegal.  

"In terms of making that a federal Schedule I drug, that doesn't make any sense because that's actually something that could potentially be useful in treating and preventing overdoses," Dr. Marino said, adding that the law could be redundant.  

"There already is a federal law in place to make analogues of fentanyl that are not used medically, that are not FDA approved are already considered illegal," he said. 

The law was proposed in January and had a second reading, but so far no other action has been taken. 

You can read the letter sent to President Biden and congressional leaders below:

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