Attempt to decriminalize fentanyl testing strips in Texas could stall in the Senate for a third time

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Fentanyl test strips are among the cheapest and easiest ways to prevent overdoses, but multiple attempts to legalize them — even with Gov. Greg Abbott’s support in the past — have failed in the Senate.

This year, legislation to legalize these test strips faces similar challenges.

“I think that there’s a different stream of thought that feels like if you give an inch, you give a mile, and that any sort of lessening of prohibition stance is sort of giving up and giving over to drug use,” said Katharine Neill Harris, a drug policy fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

House Bill 1644, by state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, would remove testing strips for fentanyl and xylazine, a veterinary sedative also known as “tranq,” from the list of banned drug paraphernalia. This bill passed unanimously in the House last month and is now pending in the Senate.

Fentanyl, a potent drug commonly mixed with other substances and has caused the deaths of more than 7,000 Texans in the last six years, is odorless and tasteless, making detection nearly impossible without specialized equipment.

This is why Oliverson called fentanyl testing strips a “mine detector” for a person trying to walk across a minefield.

The cost of fentanyl test strips can range from $10 to $30 for a box of 30. To use the strips, testers dissolve a small amount of a drug in water and then dip the strip into it. One line indicates fentanyl is present, and two lines indicate a negative result.

This is the second legislative session in a row that Oliverson has tried to get his bill passed. Both times, his legislation didn’t get a committee hearing in the Senate. With less than four weeks left in the legislative session, his bill this session hasn’t yet been considered in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Oliverson, in his speech from the House floor, suggested that Senate lawmakers fear that legalizing the strips would mean that people would start “using drugs to their heart’s content safely.”

“I want every person in Texas who is struggling with addiction to get the help they need. But I can’t fix that if they are dead,” Oliverson told lawmakers last month when his bill passed.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, did not return a request for comment nor did the criminal justice committee chair, Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton. Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, credited by drug policy advocates last legislative session for blocking fentanyl testing strips from a hearing, didn’t comment on whether she supports legalization.

“The structural nature of the Senate, where the lieutenant governor has the power to decide whether a bill gets a hearing or not, can be quite a big hurdle,” Harris said.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown said the delay in legalizing fentanyl testing strips is only costing lives with each passing year.

“Our fight against the number one cause of accidental death in Travis County is hampered by the fact that we haven’t legalized fentanyl test strips in Texas,” Brown said.

Advantages of fentanyl strips

Early last year, a rash of over 70 overdoses rocked Travis County in a span of three days, killing more than nine people. However, more deaths could have occurred if the county and the state hadn’t made efforts to get overdose reversal drugs like Narcan and naloxone to the general public last legislative session.

To combat the growing number of fentanyl overdose deaths in Texas, state lawmakers in 2023 launched a $10 million fentanyl awareness campaign and plan to distribute doses of Narcan to every county in the state.

“I also get the sense that publicity campaigns that we have done and that the state has done have helped get the education out there, too,” Brown said.

Brown said Travis County, despite the harrowing encounter last year, saw a decline in fentanyl related deaths, dropping by 36%, from 279 in 2023 to 179 in 2024.

During this same period, deaths from fentanyl overdose statewide dropped 14%, to 5,070 in 2024.

“We don’t know yet if this is a long-term decline. Certainly, it's an encouraging development that we hope to see continue,” Harris said, pointing out that 87,000 deaths are still a lot.

A dip doesn’t mean a complete decline as the drug market is unpredictable. This is why drug policy advocates and others are clamoring for the legalization of drug testing strips, which are cheaper to stock than Narcan and can keep someone from using fentanyl in the first place.

In December 2022, Abbott announced his support for fentanyl testing strips as he believed the opioid crisis had gone too far. Attempts to contact Abbott to see if he still supports testing strips were not returned. Abbott did not respond to a request for comment on whether he still supports legalization.

“I think we would reduce the number of deaths that we’re seeing in the state of Texas if we just made test strips legal,” Brown said.

Uncertain future

Maggie Luna, executive director of the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, an Austin-based nonprofit that does outreach and operates a drop-in center for people who might need Narcan, condoms, bandages, and more, has seen firsthand the demand for fentanyl testing strips.

Their organization can’t legally buy testing strips but accepts tests donated to them from other states.

“People are always asking for fentanyl testing strips and xylazine test strips,” Luna said.

The Texas Harm Reduction Alliance has been on the front-lines of this fight against drug-related deaths, reversing more than 300 overdoses in 2024 alone with Narcan, Luna said.

If fentanyl use continues, Luna is concerned about it worsening because of federal funding cuts to substance abuse programs, Texas lawmakers’ attempt to ban intoxicating substances like hemp and kratom, and the economic downturn, which notoriously leads to spikes in drug usage.

“We are going to start seeing people seeking drugs at the same time we are clawing back the money that we have for tools to keep people alive,” Luna said. “We are heading to a period of death.”

Luna said legalizing test strips allows organizations like hers, which face an uncertain future, a cheap option to save lives.

“Every overdose can be reversed if we are applying the right education and giving out the correct tools,” Luna said.

Disclosure: Rice University and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Texans seeking help for substance use can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s free help line at 800-662-4357. They can also access services in their region through the Texas Health and Human Services website.

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