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Texas Legislature 2023

Lawmakers’ attempts to tighten drug laws could saddle crime labs with an unsustainable workload

Texas lawmakers want tougher criminal penalties for possession of delta-8 and fentanyl. But that would mean much more work for the crime labs handling most of the drug testing for the state’s 254 counties.

Angelica Noyola, a forensic analyst in the seized drugs lab, prepares a tray of pills, which likely contain oxycodone, for a chemical spot test as the state grapples with the effects of the nation's growing opioid epidemic at the Houston Forensic Science Center in Houston on March 29, 2023.

Recent drug law changes 

Crime labs stretched thin

Competing drug cases 


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Courts Criminal justice Politics State government Charles Perry Greg Abbott Texas Legislature