Florida state senators are advancing a bill that seeks to help curb fatal drug overdoses by decriminalizing drug checking tools that can help detect potentially lethal substances mixed into drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Under decades-old Florida statutes — modeled on federal law — most drug testing equipment is considered a form of “drug paraphernalia,” and possession or use can be subject to a first-degree misdemeanor charge, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
In 2023, Florida lawmakers approved a bipartisan law to partially amend this, by specifically decriminalizing fentanyl test strips. These strips can help prevent fatal overdoses by detecting the presence of the powerful opioid fentanyl — a main contributor to the nation’s drug overdose crisis — when it’s been added into drugs such as cocaine or meth.
The issue of fentanyl’s proliferation in the illicit drug market gained greater attention several years ago following reports of teens who died after taking a drug they believed was something else, unaware it also contained fentanyl.
Awareness of the issue, plus strategies like making overdose reversal drugs (e.g., Narcan) more available and distributing fentanyl test strips throughout communities, has helped. Fentanyl-related deaths in Florida, for instance, fell 35 percent in 2024, according to state data, in line with a national decline in overdose deaths seen across the country.
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Florida legislators vote to decriminalize fentanyl test strips to help address overdose crisis
Still, thousands of people experience fatal overdose each year, a problem worsened by new, dangerous substances that enter the illicit drug market. To help address this evolution, state lawmakers in Florida are considering extending the decriminalization of fentanyl test strips — part of a strategy known as harm reduction — to drug checking tools that can detect other substances, too.
This is to help account for the growing number of overdose deaths involving other drugs such as xylazine, an animal tranquilizer and central nervous system depressant (also known as “tranq”) that can slow down breathing and heart rate, and can be lethal if mixed with other powerful depressants.
From 2019 to mid-2022, the number of deaths involving fentanyl and xylazine in the U.S. surged 279 percent, underscoring its rapid spread. In addition to death, complications of xylazine use can also include severe skin wounds and, potentially, amputation.
Although harm reduction was once more controversial — the strategy was seen by some as enabling drug use — that perception is no longer as widespread, nor is it borne out by research.
A staff analysis of the Florida legislation (SB 646) moving through the Senate notes that the bill pertains to “evidence-based harm reduction strategies that do not encourage drug use but rather prevent overdose and death by allowing individuals and communities to identify the presence of dangerous controlled substances and adulterants.”
Florida Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, the bill sponsor, has also defended his proposal by arguing the bill doesn’t change any Florida drug law but simply “ensures that drug rehabilitation clinics, community health organizations, individuals and law enforcement may use these basic testing tools to identify dangerous adulterants.”
According to the Pew Research Center, nearly all states have now moved to decriminalize at least one type of drug checking tool, and at least 20 states now allow the possession, distribution and sale of all drug checking equipment.
Gaetz’s bill has been approved by two Senate committees so far through unanimous, bipartisan votes of support. The House version of the bill (HB 477), meanwhile, cleared its first committee hearing in a unanimous 14-0 vote Thursday, five weeks into Florida’s 60-day legislative session. The legislation has to be approved by both chambers in order to be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office for his final approval. Florida’s legislative session began Jan. 13 and is scheduled to end March 13.
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