OPIOIDS Act

This bill focuses on getting better, faster data about opioid overdoses and improving the tools people use to respond. It lets the Attorney General give grants to states, territories, and local communities to improve overdose tracking, like better toxicology tests, linking data across systems, training officers, and electronic death reporting. In places with high overdose rates, local police and forensic labs could get grants for training to spot overdoses, upgrading lab systems to report to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS), training to track criminals on the darknet, and strengthening medical examiner and coroner offices. To receive these funds, grantees must submit overdose data to NFLIS. Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers would train state and local agencies on how to coordinate with partners when tracking drug activity, and certain police grants (COPS) would now clearly cover training and gear like containment devices to prevent first responders’ exposure to fentanyl and other substances.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would set uniform national standards for how labs report drug data—such as purity, formulation, and weight—into NFLIS, but the bill says this does not create new reporting requirements for state or local labs. The DEA would also list the needed funding for the Fentanyl Signature Profiling Program as its own line in the annual budget request.

Key points

• Who is affected: States, territories, local governments; local police and forensic labs; medical examiners and coroners; first responders; DEA; Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.
• What changes: New grants to improve overdose data and lab capacity; required reporting to NFLIS for grantees; training on coordination for drug tracking; police grants can fund fentanyl containment devices; DEA sets standard lab reporting rules; DEA highlights fentanyl profiling funds in its budget.
• When: Grants may be awarded under the bill; the DEA budget item would appear as part of the yearly budget process.