State Representatives Tim Whelan of Brewster and Paul Tucker of Salem are leading a bi-partisan effort to criminalize U-47700, commonly known as “pink”, a powerful synthetic opioid from China that has been found responsible in a number of overdose deaths across the country.
Republican Whelan and Democrat Tucker have filed legislation to classify U-47700 as a Class-A controlled substance and to prosecute trafficking of the drug in the same manner as heroin.
The legislation, HD4486, “An Act controlling certain synthetic opioids”, is currently co-sponsored by 76 Senators and Representatives from both sides of the aisle.