House unanimous in favor of fentanyl strips

BOISE — The Idaho House overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to legalize fentanyl testing strips.

HB 441 removes fentanyl testing strips, which can be used to detect if a substance has been laced with the potent and deadly opioid, from the state’s definition of illegal drug paraphernalia.

Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, and House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, co-sponsored the bill.

Erickson said the strips help reduce usage of drugs and can save lives.

“Considering that there were 188 lives lost last year in Idaho to fentanyl, if we’re able to mitigate just one of those with this product and allowing it to get across the board, we’ve done our job here in this Legislature,” Erickson said.

Rubel added that the strips are legal in many other states. She also recalled a story that was told in the public hearing on the bill of a student whose 15-year-old classmate died of an overdose while they were in high school.

There was no debate on the bill.

The House voted 69-0 with one marked absent to send HB 441 to the Senate.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on X, formerly Twitter, @EyeOnBoiseGuido.