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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Vice President Kamala Harris has not stated support for legalizing illicit use of fentanyl.

The pain reliever is legal with a prescription, but is often imported illegally and abused.

Former President Donald Trump claimed Sept. 28, 2024, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, that Harris “wants to legalize fentanyl right away.”

His campaign cited a 2019 candidate questionnaire, which did not mention fentanyl. Asked if she would support federal decriminalization of “all drug possession for personal use,” Harris answered yes and wrote that “it is long past time that we changed” criminalization of marijuana and that she has supported “rehabilitation over incarceration for drug-related offenses.”

Harris’ campaign did not answer a question from Wisconsin Watch on whether she currently supports the decriminalization mentioned in the questionnaire.

Harris has pledged to “make it a top priority to disrupt” fentanyl entering the United States and to double U.S. Justice Department resources to do so.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

National Institute on Drug Abuse: What is fentanyl?

LiveNOW from FOX: FULL SPEECH: Trump speaks on immigration in battleground Wisconsin | LiveNOW from FOX

American Civil Liberties Union: ACLU Rights for All Candidate Questionnaire 2019 Kamala D. Harris

New York Times: After Harris Calls for a Crackdown on Fentanyl, Trump Twists Her Position

NBC News: Harris says she would ‘double’ DOJ resources to crack down on drug cartels

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time Milwaukee-based reporter in October 2024 after starting as a freelance Fact Briefs reporter in January 2023. In addition to contributing to Wisconsin Watch’s collaboration with The Gigafact Project to combat online misinformation, he reports on Wisconsin policy, labor, energy and the rapid expansion of data centers across the state. Kertscher is a former longtime reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and the author of two sports books, on Al McGuire and Brett Favre.