US to Ban Illicit Versions of Painkiller Drugs

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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plans to ban all illicit versions of fentanyl, the highly addictive opioid painkiller responsible for tens of thousands of deadly drug overdoses in the United States in recent years.

The DEA, an arm of the Justice Department, will classify all "fentanyl-related substances" as a Schedule I drug, effectively making their sale illegal, the Department said on Thursday.

The scheduling is the latest step by the Trump administration to combat an epidemic that has killed more than a half-million Americans since 2000.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the move, calling it “an important step toward halting the rising death toll caused by illicit fentanyls in the United States.”

"By scheduling all fentanyls, we empower our law enforcement officers and prosecutors to take swift and necessary action against those spreading these deadly poisons,” Sessions said in a statement.

DEA spokesperson Barbara Carreno said no date has been set for publishing the planned classification in the federal register.