The more than 100 undersigned organizations write to urge the Biden administration and Congress to let the Trump administration temporary “class-wide” emergency scheduling of fentanyl-related substances expire in May 2021. Class-wide scheduling would 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. As we approach the 50-year milestone of President Nixon’s announcement of the War on Drugs, there is ample evidence that
these unscientific policies destroy communities, entrench racial disparities, and do nothing to reduce drug supply or demand. The Biden administration should instead support legislation
grounded in public health and evidence-based approaches to illicit fentanyl-related overdose deaths.