I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1781 
To improve the ability of the Federal Government to address synthetic opioids, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 29, 2017 
Mr. DONOVAN (for himself and Mr. THOMAS J. ROONEY of Florida) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and 
Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve the ability of the Federal Government to address 
synthetic opioids, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Comprehensive Fentanyl Control Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress. 
Sec. 3. Enhanced penalties. 
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Sec. 4. Endangering human life while illegally manufacturing controlled sub-
stance. 
Sec. 5. Temporary scheduling of synthetic opioids. 
Sec. 6. Tableting machines, encapsulating machines, and controlled substance 
counterfeiting materials. 
Sec. 7. Labeling requirements. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Fentanyl is a dangerous, synthetic opioid 
that’s 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin and 
morphine and lethal in doses as small as approxi-
mately 2 milligrams. Current sentencing enhance-
ments do not reflect the danger fentanyl poses at 
lower quantities compared to other illicit substances. 
(2) Because a lethal dose of fentanyl can be ac-
cidentally inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it’s 
not just deadly to its users, but it also threatens the 
lives of law enforcement and customs officials, public 
health workers, first responders and postal workers 
who risk unknowingly coming into contact with 
fentanyl in its different forms. 
(3) From 2013 to 2014, the number of drug 
seizures by law enforcement that tested positive for 
fentanyl increased by 426 percent and synthetic 
opioid-related deaths increased by 79 percent, with 
over 700 overdose deaths related to fentanyl. How-
ever, due to variations in States’ medical examiner 
and coroner testing and reporting techniques, and 
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deaths attributed to heroin, this figure is believed to 
be significantly higher. 
(4) Illicitly manufactured fentanyl, pill press 
machines, and other supplies needed to manufacture 
counterfeit pills containing fentanyl are primarily 
sourced from China and widely available for pur-
chase on the Internet. Traffickers can typically pur-
chase a kilogram of fentanyl powder for as little as 
$2,000 from a Chinese supplier, transform it into 
hundreds of thousands of pills, and sell the counter-
feit pills for millions of dollars in profit. 
(5) In 2015, the Drug Enforcement Adminis-
tration (DEA) and Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) issued nationwide alerts identi-
fying fentanyl as a threat to public health and safety 
and stating that the rise of counterfeit pills that 
contain fentanyl in the illicit drug market will likely 
result 
in 
more 
opioid-dependent 
individuals, 
overdoses, and deaths. 
(6) The DEA has identified two key challenges 
for using the Controlled Substances Analogue En-
forcement Act of 1986 (21 U.S.C. 801 note) to pros-
ecute individuals for violations relating to fentanyl: 
(A) The law requires that the substance 
have a substantially similar chemical structure 
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