Fentanyl has been back in the national spotlight alongside the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd, as conservative commentators and law enforcement point to the drug’s presence in Floyd’s system in their attempts to exculpate Chauvin for his death. “It’s been a very visible example of how mythology and fear around fentanyl and racism is playing out in the media right now,” said Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the letter’s signatories. “Those are the exact same narratives that the Trump administration relied on to impose this policy. And if the Biden administration were to choose to extend this — which it sounds like they will — they’re really just embracing that same rhetoric. That same racist thinking.”