Bill
HB 5834
Prohibits illicit manufacture, distribution, possession, and use of xylazine while preserving licensed veterinary and federally authorized uses.
Status & key dates
- Introduced: June 25, 2024 (Rep. Kelly Breen). Substitute (H‑1) adopted.
- Passed House (with immediate effect): December 10, 2024 (Roll Call #402).
- Subsequent referrals: Committee on Government Operations (12/18/2024); placed on immediate passage and referred to Appropriations (1/22/2025).
- Effective date (if enacted): 90 days after enactment.
- Statutory changes: amends multiple sections of the Public Health Code (1978 PA 368), including MCL 333.7103, .7105, .7106, .7401, .7403, .7403a, .7451, .7453, and .7455.
Purpose and intent
- To prohibit and penalize the illicit distribution, possession, and use of xylazine while preserving lawful veterinary, manufacturing, compounding, and other federally authorized uses. The bill addresses public health and public‑safety concerns arising from xylazine’s increasing presence as an adulterant in illicit drugs (often combined with fentanyl) and its role in overdoses and severe tissue injury.
Key substantive provisions
- Definitions: Adds xylazine throughout relevant definitions and statutes (e.g., “administer,” “deliver,” “dispense,” “manufacture”), and defines “licit use of xylazine” (authorized veterinary uses, FDA/HHS‑approved animal drugs or investigational animal drugs, compounding, and other uses authorized under federal law) and “illicit use.”
- Prohibition: Makes it unlawful—except for licit uses—to manufacture, deliver, possess with intent to deliver, or possess xylazine for illicit use. Practitioners are prohibited from dispensing/prescribing/administrating xylazine outside licit uses and scope of practice.
- Criminal penalties (HB 5834): Individuals convicted of knowingly or intentionally possessing xylazine for illicit use, fraudulently obtaining it, or selling paraphernalia related to illicit xylazine use would face a felony punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment, a fine up to $15,000, or both.
- Complementary sentencing changes (HB 5835, companion bill): Proposes to classify xylazine offenses under sentencing guidelines as Class E controlled‑substance felonies (generally punishable by up to 5 years). Also targets counterfeit prescription forms and sale/offer to sell objects intended to facilitate illicit xylazine use (with specified penalties).
Who is affected
- Directly: Persons who manufacture, distribute, possess, or use xylazine outside authorized veterinary/federal uses; those fraudulently obtaining prescriptions; vendors of paraphernalia facilitating illicit xylazine use.
- Indirectly: Veterinarians, pharmacists, animal‑drug manufacturers and compounders (protected by explicit licit‑use exemptions); law enforcement, public health and harm‑reduction providers, and the criminal justice system.
Background and context
- Xylazine is an FDA‑regulated veterinary sedative (approved for animals since 1972) but is not scheduled under federal Controlled Substances Act (DEA). It has been increasingly detected as an adulterant—often mixed with fentanyl—contributing to overdoses, wounds that can become necrotic, and withdrawal challenges. Naloxone does not reverse xylazine effects because it is not an opioid.
Fiscal impact
- Described as indeterminate in the House Fiscal Agency analyses; a fiscal analysis was in progress.
Notes
- HB 5834 does not add xylazine to Michigan’s drug schedules; rather, it creates specific prohibitions and penalties for illicit xylazine activity while preserving lawful uses under federal and state authorization. HB 5835 contains complementary sentencing/scheduling language that would operate in tandem.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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