A House committee has cleared legislation directing federal health officials to examine how often hospital emergency rooms test patients for marijuana, fentanyl and other drugs.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill 46-0 last week, following approval by its Subcommittee on Health the previous month. The measure, H.R. 2004, was introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and is called "Tyler's Law," named for Tyler Shamash, a 19-year-old who died from fentanyl ingestion in 2018 after not being tested for the drug when hospitalized for a suspected overdose.
Though centered on fentanyl, the bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to complete, within a year of enactment, a study on "how frequently hospital emergency departments test for fentanyl (in addition to testing for other substances such as amphetamines, phencyclidine, cocaine, opiates, and marijuana) when a patient is experiencing an overdose." The study must also assess testing costs, potential risks and benefits, and effects on patients, including confidentiality and the doctor-patient relationship.
The bill, which has 65 House cosponsors, requires HHS to issue guidance within six months of the study's completion on whether emergency rooms should make fentanyl testing routine, how hospitals can ensure clinicians know which substances their standard drug panels screen for, and how such testing might affect future overdose risk and health outcomes.
"A simple drug test can mean the difference between life and death," Lieu said in a statement. "Tyler's Law is a bipartisan and commonsense piece of legislation. It is a privilege to work with Tyler's mom, Juli, to honor Tyler's memory and fight so no other family is forced to undergo such devastating loss."
The bill now heads to the House floor after clearing committee.
A Senate companion, S. 921, from Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), was approved by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in January, but was amended to strip references to marijuana and other non-fentanyl substances. That version also gives HHS three years, rather than one, to finish the study.
Separately, in April, Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) introduced the Marijuana Impact on Medicaid Act of 2026, which would require HHS to compile data on federal and state Medicaid spending tied to hospital and emergency room care linked to marijuana use. That bill mirrors two earlier Budd amendments on cannabis-related hospitalization costs that were never taken up on the Senate floor.
