Last month, three teenage girls were found dead in a car in the parking lot of a rural Tennessee high school hours before graduation. Two people have died from fentanyl overdoses. The third, aged 17, was taken to hospital in critical condition. Two days later, she was charged with murdering a young girl.
The prosecutor said: Tennessee law it allows murder To sue someone who administered fentanyl to a person who died from fentanyl.
“We are enacting this law to punish drug traffickers who poison and kill people,” said Mark E. Davidson, the district attorney for Fayette County, Tennessee, who is prosecuting the case. And we also hope this law will act as a deterrent to those who continue to commit drug crimes.” to do these drugs. “
Dozens of states that have been hit by a spate of overdose deaths have enacted similar and other legislation that toughens penalties for drugs that can kill you in just a few milligrams.
Hundreds of fentanyl crime bills were introduced in at least 46 states in 2023 alone, according to the National Congress of States.Virginia legislator codified Fentanyl is terrorist weapon” Ann iowa law Selling or manufacturing less than 5 grams of fentanyl (about the weight of 5 paper clips) is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.Arkansas and texas I recently attended some 30 statesinclude Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wyoming, Murder with drugs This would allow people who socially shared drugs, including lethal doses of fentanyl, to be prosecuted for murder.
These bills are intended to stop the lethal substances that permeate much of America’s illicit drug supply. But they renew the debate about whether ruthless law enforcement is effective and fair in dealing with public health crises.
“We rely on these very comfortable and simple law and order solutions. didn’t work Before, they are not working nowAnd the evidence is mounting that they are making things worse.” Jennifer Carroll, a medical anthropologist at North Carolina State University.she is the author of a recent book study The study found that in one large Indiana county, 911 calls and overdose deaths skyrocketed as people who turned to dealers involved in drug busts desperately searched for fresh sources of information. It turned out that
Addressing drug addiction has evolved in recent years, with state and federal governments allocating more funding to treatment and prevention. The Biden administration has adopted the concept of “harm reduction,” the short-term goal of making drugs less dangerous for users. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Narcan, an overdose drug, for over-the-counter purchases.
But to many public health experts, the new fentanyl law looks like a repeat of tougher laws. drug war The sentencing era of the 1980s and 90s for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. They fear that the results will be similar. Most of those incarcerated are low-level traffickers, especially people of color, who may be selling to support addictions.
Already, there are signs that the bitter legacy of crack cocaine law is reappearing. Last year, the average federal prison sentence for trafficking in fentanyl-related substances was about six and a half years, and 56% of those convicted were black, 25% Hispanic, and 17% white. US Sentencing Commission. Critics argue that such disparities are likely to become even more extreme. Sen. Cory Booker, Democrat, New Jerseysaid, pointing to the federal fentanyl crime bill that passed the House last month with bipartisan support.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and highly addictive, was linked to more than two-thirds of the nearly 110,000 overdose deaths in the United States last year. It can be legally prescribed to patients with constant pain in tightly regulated small doses. However, over the past five years, illegal versions have exploded.
They are frequently mixed with counterfeit prescription drugs and other over-the-counter drugs such as cocaine as inexpensive bulking agents. Many victims who die don’t even realize they’re taking fentanyl.
In this deeply divided country, many of the fentanyl crime laws are known for their bipartisan support. This year, in Nevada, the Democratic-majority Congress and new jersey Altitude strict fentanyl bills. Lawmakers in Oregon, who passed the country’s most lenient drug possession law in 2021, said: Weigh a sturdy new product one.
This may be partly due to the fact that many laws have been publicly defended. family who has lost children to fentanyl. Mourners often stand beside the governor at bill-signing ceremonies.
“Victims’ families are promised that these bills will save lives,” said Lieutenant Diane Goldstein, the organization’s executive director. Law Enforcement Partnership, an organization that calls for criminal justice reform. “But what’s missing from all the debate about the bill is that no one is seriously asking how it actually saves lives.” Lieutenant Goldstein lost his brother to an overdose.
Davidson, who is prosecuting the murder of a teenage girl in Fayette County, has seen family anxiety and despair firsthand by touring Rotary clubs and churches to educate communities about fentanyl. After these sessions, frightened parents continue to demand, “What are you going to do?”
Until about two years ago, drug deaths were unheard of in Fayette County, a rural bedroom community of about 40,000 people outside of Memphis. However, since May 2021, the County Sheriff’s Department has recorded 212 overdoses, 27 of which deaths were overwhelmingly due to fentanyl.
Davidson said his decision to charge a 17-year-old girl with fentanyl-related murder initially resonated with the public.
“Some people are saying that because two children died here, someone needs to be charged,” he said.
But within days, authorities found drugs in the family’s home and charged the uncle with child neglect. Then the girl’s mother died of an overdose.
According to Davidson, comments on social media are beginning to reflect different views on the case. “Others will say, that poor girl, her mother is dead and her house is full of drugs. She must have had a difficult childhood.”
So-called drug-induced homicide law, As in the case Davidson relied on, prosecutors usually don’t have to prove that the person who provided the drug intended to kill the victim. The law presumes that death was foreseeable if someone knowingly distributed fentanyl. Many prosecutors believe such laws are essential given the crisis in the community.
“If you’re distributing this poison, our goal is to charge you with murder when an overdose occurs,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. during a press conference About fentanyl last month. “Simply put, you are distributing this poison, and you are going to jail for a long time for committing murder.”
Mr. John J. Flynn, District Attorney for Erie County, New York, National Association of District Attorneys, Prosecutors said they view these laws as valuable tools, especially in pursuing large dealers.
Critics argue that the law violates the Good Samaritan principle, which is an exception to drug offenses for possession or distribution. These carve-outs provide immunity from prosecution for drug users who call 911 to help overdose buddies. But critics say people may be reluctant to call for help if the suspect is a possible murder.
A more common type of fentanyl offense law focuses on the type of drug and weight at the time of the attack. Federal, and increasingly state, law imposes higher mandatory minimum sentences for smaller amounts.
Mandatory minimums are generally considered the most restrictive form of sentencing because they impede the exercise of judge discretion. At least six states have enshrined them in fentanyl laws this year, according to the Georgetown University Law Center’s Addiction and Public Policy Initiative.
“The type and weight of drugs never tell the whole story of a drug offender,” said Molly Gill, a former prosecutor and now vice president of policy. femme, a bipartisan group formerly known as The Families Against Mandatory Minimum Standards. “Even if the drug is fentanyl, that’s just one of many factors to consider.”
The framework largely ignores the context of the drug offense, such as whether the defendant was an addict, was coerced into trafficking by an abuser, or knew the drug contained fentanyl. she said there is.
After all, many drug crime experts say these laws do not disrupt the vast supply of drugs in any meaningful way. Synthetic drugs are frequently ordered over the internet and processed in Mexico, often with chemicals from China and India.
“These are international drug trafficking networks,” said Regina Lovell, former chief drug policy officer in the Obama and Biden administrations and now director of Georgetown’s Addiction and Public Policy Initiative. The supply of medicines is no longer a problem for poppy farmers, she added, but for chemists. “This is about illicit finance,” she said. “So, from a policy perspective, what do we need to do strategically?”
