Bill decriminalizing drug test strips in opioid-devastated West Virginia heads to governor

A bill that would decriminalize all the strips used to test deadly drugs now goes to West Virginia's governor

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A bill that would decriminalize all the strips used to test deadly drugs in West Virginia, the state with the nation's highest overdose rate, is headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice hasn't said publicly whether he supports the bill, which has received bipartisan support. The proposal follows a law signed by Justice in 2022 that decriminalized fentanyl testing strips.

“As time has gone, unfortunately, we’ve got fentanyl, now we’ve got carfentanil, now we’ve got xylazine,” Republican Deputy House Speaker Matthew Rohrbach said on the House floor before the legislation passed overwhelmingly Friday.

Rohrbach, who is also the chamber’s substance abuse committee chair, said the bill is meant to ensure that all drug test strips will be available to people who need them, without lawmakers having to pass new legislation every time a new one is developed.

“It just says, ‘test strips for deadly drugs will be exempted from drug paraphernalia,’” Rohrbach said.