“Over 100,000 of our loved ones being lost to avoidable overdoses a year is not because of a lack of enforcement, it’s a direct result of it,” the director of the Drug Policy Alliance argued.

U.S. drug policy reform advocates condemned President Joe Biden’s commitment to “accelerating the crackdown on fentanyl trafficking” as part of his administration’s strategy for tackling the opioid crisis, a policy the White House announced in a preview of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

Although the SOTU preview says the administration will be “expanding access to evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery,” the document says Biden will “work with Congress to make permanent tough penalties on suppliers of fentanyl,” fentanyl analogs, and fentanyl-related substances (FRS).

The outline states that Biden “looks forward to working with Congress on its comprehensive proposal to permanently schedule all illicitly produced FRS into Schedule I,” the most severe Drug Enforcement Administration classification.

“Traffickers of these deadly substances must face the penalties they deserve, no matter how they adjust their drugs,” the preview asserts.