U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dianne Feinstein (California), joined by Sens. Dan Sullivan and Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire) introduced Bruce’s Law, which is named after a young Alaskan, Robert ‘Bruce’ Snodgrass, who passed away from a fentanyl overdose in 2021. The law aims to bolster federal prevention and education efforts surrounding the dangers of drugs laced with fentanyl.
Bruce’s Law also authorizes new Community-Based Coalition Enhancement grants to help educate young people about the risks of street drugs laced with fentanyl, which would allow Drug-Free Communities Coalitions to access new funding focuses on fentanyl to try and curb its use.
Sen. Murkowski spoke about Bruce’s Law on the Senate Floor:
Bruce’s Law authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a public education awareness campaign focused on the dangers of drugs that could be contaminated with fentanyl, drug prevention, and detection of early warning signs of addiction among youth.
The legislation also authorizes the HHS Secretary to establish a Federal Interagency Working Group on Fentanyl Contamination of illegal drugs, which would consult experts, including family members, youth, and individuals working toward recovery, to develop opportunities to improve responses to the drug overdose by fentanyl-contaminated drugs incidences; and it would study federal efforts to prevent and minimize drug overdose by fentanyl-contaminated drugs, and make suggestions to better educate school-aged children and youth on the dangers of drugs contaminated by fentanyl.
