Orange County calls on state to classify fentanyl “analogues” as controlled substances

GOSHEN – Fentanyl when taken by a drug user often leads to death
and while it may be classified as a controlled substance for legal use
when prescribed by a doctor, there are numbers of instances where abuse
has caused death.
The Orange County Legislature, Thursday, adopted a resolution calling on the state legislature to classify as controlled substances certain fentanyl “analogues” that are responsible for overdose death.
Legislator Robert Sassi, chairman of the Subcommittee on Opioid Addiction, said while fentanyl may be classified as such, when the chemical makeup is modified, even ever so slightly, that, too, would have to be classified.
The illegal drug manufacturers are one step ahead of the law on this, Sassi said.
“This disease knows no race; it knows no religion; it knows no socio-economic status. It knows nothing except death so let’s work together,” Sassi said. “I look forward to 2019, expanding my opioid subcommittee to raise awareness to the epidemic here in Orange County.”
New Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson said he would sponsor it when lawmakers
return to Albany in January. “This is not a Democratic or Republican
issue; it’s a human issue,” Jacobson said. Republican Assemblyman
Karl Brabenec said he would co-sponsor the legislation.
Some 102 people in Orange County have died this year from opioid overdoses,
18 of those were the result, in part, of the victim’s use of one
or more fentanyl analogues that were not listed as controlled substances.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Robert Conflitti brought issue of chemically modified fentanyl to the county legislature recently, prompting the memorializing resolution.
Sheriff Carl DuBois said the opioid crisis has “gotten worse” and the crisis must be addressed head-on.
Earlier this week, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther organized a panel of Sullivan County officials and law enforcement to discuss the growing opioid epidemic.