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Another excellent piece out of @TexasObserver on the Drug War in Texas.

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-war-on-drug-users-austin-overdose-disaster/

>Oliverson said the bill only applied to fentanyl “because it is that much more dangerous, because it is that much more powerful. … People say to me, ‘I don’t like the idea of giving people test strips because it gives them confidence in the illegal drugs that they’re buying, and I want to discourage people from using illegal drugs,’” he said. “Well, I want to discourage people from using illegal drugs too, but having them insta-killed by a mislabeled pill that they bought, the first time they took it, is not an effective strategy for recovery.”
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>While other drug-checking legislation failed that session, Oliverson’s bill passed the House 143-2—but it never received a hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. “They just could not get over the idea that you are making it safer for people to use illegal drugs and that we shouldn’t make it safe for people to use illegal drugs,” Oliverson said, “because they shouldn’t be using illegal drugs at all.”