# Understanding the OPIOIDS Act

This bill is about getting better information on opioid overdoses across the country. Right now, when someone overdoses on opioids like fentanyl, different cities and states collect and report the data in different ways—or sometimes don't report it at all. This makes it really hard for public health officials and law enforcement to understand the full scope of the problem or spot trends. The OPIOIDS Act tries to fix this by giving money to states, cities, and local areas to improve how they track and share overdose information, including both deaths and non-fatal overdoses.

The bill does this in several practical ways. It allows the Attorney General to give grants to communities hit hardest by overdoses so they can improve their death investigation processes, upgrade their forensic labs, and connect their data systems together. It also funds training for local police officers to better identify overdoses and help them work with federal partners to track drug activity. The bill requires that any law enforcement agency receiving this money must share their overdose data with a national database called the National Forensic Laboratory Information System, so information isn't siloed in individual jurisdictions.

Additionally, the bill pushes for standardized ways of reporting drug information—like how pure a drug sample is, what it's mixed with, and how much of it there is—so that labs across the country are speaking the same language. This helps authorities compare what they're finding in different places and understand patterns. The bill also makes sure first responders like paramedics and firefighters get training and equipment to protect themselves from accidental exposure to dangerous substances like fentanyl when they're responding to overdoses. Finally, it requires the Drug Enforcement Administration to specifically budget for a program that analyzes the chemical "fingerprints" of fentanyl to help trace where it's coming from.

OPIOIDS Act

Lee, Laurel M.

Overcoming Prevalent Inadequacies in Overdose Information Data Sets Act or the OPIOIDS Act This bill establishes and revises certain grants and resources to address opioid-related overdoses. Specifically, the bill authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to award grants to states, territories, and localities to improve data and surveillance related to opioid overdoses. Additionally, the bill directs DOJ to award grants to law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories in communities with high rates of drug overdoses to (1) provide training to help officers better identify overdoses, (2) upgrade essential systems for drug tracing and processing samples in forensic laboratories, or (3) provide training to better trace criminals through the dark web. The bill requires the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers to provide training to state and local law enforcement agencies on how to best coordinate with state and federal partners for tracking drug-related activity. The bill allows funds under the Community Oriented Policing Services grant program to be used to provide training and resources for equipment that protects first responders from secondary fentanyl exposure. Finally, the bill directs the Drug Enforcement Administration to (1) develop uniform reporting standards for information concerning drug control activities, and (2) budget for a program that analyzes fentanyl samples.