Indiana Senate passes bill to decriminalize fentanyl test strips, eliminate legal ‘gray area'

Indiana law classifies tools that test the “strength, effectiveness, or purity of a controlled substance” as paraphernalia. This created a “gray area” for fentanyl test strips. The Senate passed legislation to clarify tools that check for the presence of a substance would no longer be considered paraphernalia.

Overdose Lifeline, an advocacy organization, describes test strips as a life-saving tool. It distributed more than 170,000 test strips in 2023 despite the uncertainty surrounding the law.

The author of the Senate Bill 312, Sen. Brett Clark (R-Avon), said this legislation may not be a big deal to a lot of people — but to the people who want to stop the harm caused by unexpected exposure to fentanyl this is a very big deal.

“Harm reduction saves lives, and that's the ultimate goal of this legislation,” Clark said.

The bill adds language that says paraphernalia statutes don’t apply to test strips and kits. Clark said it does not remove any existing language like previous attempts did.

Last year, the House approved a bill that could have eliminated the language referring to tools that test the "strength, effectiveness, or purity of a controlled substance." However, that bill did not receive a hearing in a Senate committee that approved this year's bill unanimously.

Clark said if a tool became available to test the purity of a substance outside of a lab environment, that would still be illegal under this bill.

Harm reduction practices, like test strips, are becoming more common to reduce the chance of overdose or the chance of death.

“You might have heard about some opposition to these efforts in the past, but I got that same kind of resistance when we decided that our deputies should carry Narcan,” Clark said. “We were the first agency in Hendricks County to issue it. Now, almost all officers carry it without giving it a second thought.”
 

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Sen. Rodney Pol (D-Chesterton), a co-author on the bill, said test strips will likely be available at health departments or other places that can supply information about how to seek treatment for people who need it.

“Think about it, if you're testing a substance, it's because you're afraid of what's in that substance,” Pol said. “You care about tomorrow.”

Pol said this legislation does not promote substance use and will contribute to a decline in overdoses.

SB 312 heads over to the House — which passed a bill with identical language, House Bill 1167, last week.
 

Abigail is our health reporter. Contact them at aruhman@wboi.org.