CHARLESTON, W.Va. (NEWSnet/AP) — A bill that would decriminalize all strips used to test drugs in West Virginia is headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice hasn't said publicly whether he supports the bill, which has received bipartisan support. The proposal follows a law signed by Justice in 2022 that decriminalized fentanyl testing strips.

“As time has gone, unfortunately, we’ve got fentanyl, now we’ve got carfentanil, now we’ve got xylazine,” Republican Deputy House Speaker Matthew Rohrbach said on the House floor before the legislation was approved Friday.

Rohrbach, who is also the chamber’s substance abuse committee chairman, said the bill is intended to ensure all drug test strips are available to people who need them, without lawmakers having to pass new legislation each time a new one is developed.

“It just says, ‘test strips for deadly drugs will be exempted from drug paraphernalia,’” Rohrbach said.

Under West Virginia law, drug paraphernalia could include hypodermic syringes, needles, capsules and balloons, among other items. A person found in possession of drug paraphernalia could face a misdemeanor charge.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described drug test strips as a low-cost method of helping to prevent drug overdose.

Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were involved in 76% of all drug overdose deaths occurring in West Virginia in 2021, up from 58% in 2017. Approximately 75,000 of the nearly 110,000 overdose deaths of 2022 could be linked to fentanyl, according to CDC.

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