Combating the Opioid Epidemic Through Forensic Drug Testing Act of 2017
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Oct 25, 2017
Combating the Opioid Epidemic Through Forensic Drug Testing Act of 2017
This bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance to award grants to states to address the distribution, sale, and use of heroin, fentanyl, and associated synthetic drugs.
Grants may be used to:
reimburse forensic science laboratories and medical examiner and coroner offices for efforts to address and prevent testing backlogs and efforts to conduct autopsies and toxicology testing related to drug overdose deaths;
reimburse law enforcement agencies for equipment to identify or detect heroin, fentanyl, and associated synthetic drugs;
investigate, arrest, and prosecute distributors or sellers; and
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.2008 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.2008 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.2008 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.2008 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.