New Mexico’s congressional delegation had a lot to say last week on the opioid overdose and fentanyl crises gripping the state, notably demanding answers in an unfolding scandal in which federal authorities allowed massive amounts of fentanyl to be sold here.
In a Monday letter to Terrance Cole, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the five Democrats took issue with a 2024 U.S. Department of Justice investigative summary that found the U.S. Attorney’s Office acted reasonably in allowing some drugs not to be seized and that it posed no “specific danger to public health and safety.”
Justice Department guidelines that had previously advised agents to seize fentanyl “as soon as practicable” were relaxed that year to allow some fentanyl to continue to be sold to facilitate investigations.
“We adamantly disagree with this internal assessment, and we urge your agency to immediately revert fentanyl protocols to the 2017 standard of seize or otherwise prevent the distribution of fentanyl as soon as practicable,” they wrote. “We will be taking all necessary actions in Congress to better ensure the safety of New Mexicans and expect that you will stand with us in those efforts.”
The state’s three House members — Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Gabe Vasquez and Melanie Stansbury — sent a separate letter Friday to Democratic and Republican leaders on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees urging public hearings on the matter.
“For years we have fought to keep fentanyl off our streets as New Mexico has remained in the grip of a crisis unlike anything our state has previously faced,” the three wrote. “This makes these allegations — the known release of fentanyl into our communities — particularly concerning and prime for investigation from the Committees.”
Also on Monday U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich signed onto a bipartisan letter along with Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, asking acting Attorney General Todd Blanche why the Department of Justice hadn’t met a deadline to implement some provisions of the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act.
Sponsored by the three and passed in 2025, the law permanently classified fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs —those with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in the United States. This means they cannot be prescribed and are not available for clinical use.
The law also tweaked the registration process for scientists conducting fentanyl research, intended to make research easier. However, a new notification process for researchers that was supposed to be implemented by Jan. 16 has not yet been, the three senators wrote.
“We recognize the importance of maintaining appropriate controls over Schedule I substances while supporting and accelerating research that may lead to new scientific discoveries and the development of new therapeutics,” the senators wrote. “As psychedelics are currently classified under Schedule I, timely implementation of the HALT Fentanyl Act is essential to accomplishing these objectives.”