R Street testimony in support of SB 6 to expand access in Georgia to drug-checking tools
Testimony from:
Marc Hyden, Director, State Government Affairs, R Street Institute
In SUPPORT of SB 6, “Act to amend Code Section 26-3-22 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated […] so as to authorize the use of testing equipment to determine whether a controlled substance has been adulterated”
January 29, 2025
Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Chairman Watson and members of the committee:
My name is Marc Hyden. I am a Georgia resident and the director of state government affairs for the R Street Institute, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas, including harm reduction. This is why SB 6 is of special interest to us.
In 2022, the Legislature passed the Georgia Raw Dairy Act, and within it was a provision legalizing “any testing equipment used to determine whether a controlled substance has been adulterated and contains a synthetic opioid.”[1] In short, because of the raw milk bill, possessing fentanyl test strips to determine if a controlled substance was tainted is no longer a crime. Fast forward three years, and nearly every single state has legalized their use.[2]
This was a critically important public policy success. Georgia has been mired in a drug overdose crisis for years as increasing numbers of Georgians have inadvertently ingested adulterants, like fentanyl, and suffered the consequences. “From 2019 to 2022, fentanyl-involved overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 308 percent. That’s 1,601 lives lost in one year alone,” according to Georgia’s Office of the Attorney General.[3] In 2020, 67 percent of overdose deaths in Georgia involved fentanyl.[4]
Fentanyl is one of the primary culprits of this crisis, but it is far from the only one. Others, including xylazine, are on the rise, and are particularly concerning. Xylazine is a non-opioid tranquilizer that causes a dangerous drop in heart rate, breathing and blood pressure—resulting in rising numbers of deaths.[5] From 2020 to 2022, deaths in Georgia involving xylazine surged by 1,380 percent, and there is no xylazine reversal agent approved for human use—making it vital to be able to test for its presence in advance.[6]
Unfortunately, the raw milk bill only legalized drug-checking tools if they are testing for synthetic opioids. As mentioned above, xylazine is not a synthetic opioid. Neither are many other adulterants. As the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education points out, there are a number of pharmaceutical adulterants and industrial chemicals harming Georgians.[7] Beyond this, there is no way of predicting what newly developed non-opioid-based drugs or chemicals may find their way into controlled substances and kill Georgians. That is why it is important to more broadly legalize drug-checking tools, as SB 6 does.
The R Street Institute does not encourage or support illegal drug use, but we understand that abstinence-only approaches don’t work for everyone. Even with the best prevention and treatment tools in place, some people will continue to take illicit drugs, and that explains why we seek ways to reduce harm where it cannot be entirely mitigated. One way of doing that is expanding access to drug-checking tools. For these reasons, we appreciate Sen. Kirkpatrick’s leadership on this issue and urge your support for SB 6.
Thank you,
Marc Hyden
Director, State Government Affairs
R Street Institute
(404) 918-2731
[1] “Georgia Raw Dairy Act,” HB 1175, 2021-2022 Regular Session, 156th Georgia General Assembly, 2022. https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/61674.
[2] Carl Smith, “Fentanyl Test Strips Are an Easy Way to Save Lives,” Governing, Jan. 4, 2024. https://www.governing.com/policy/fentanyl-test-strips-are-an-easy-way-to-save-lives.
[3] “Opioid Abuse,” Office of the Attorney General of Georgia, Last Accessed Jan. 21, 2025. https://law.georgia.gov/key-issues/opioid-abuse.
[4] “Opioid Prevention,” Georgia Department of Public Health, Last Accessed Jan. 21, 2025. https://southhealthdistrict.com/programs-services/opioid-prevention/.
[5] “Xyalzine,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, Last Accessed Jan. 21, 2025. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/xylazine.
[6] “Xylazine: What Clinicians Need to Know,” New York Department of Health, March 2023. https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/12044.pdf.
[7] “Trends in Toxic Adulterants in Street Drugs in the United States,” Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, Last Accessed Jan. 21, 2025. https://www.cfsre.org/images/content/reports/public_alerts/Toxic_Adulterants_Health_Alert_Final.pdf; Brian Mann, “The pipeline of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. may be drying up, experts say,” National Public Radio, Oct. 1, 2024. https://www.npr.org/2024/09/30/nx-s1-5124997/fentanyl-overdose-opioid-btmps-drug-cartel-xylazine-tranq-mexico-china.