Some critics say the Republican proposal would clean up drug addicts and put them on death row.
Senator Anthony Kahn (R-Glendale)’s bill would expand state first-degree murder laws to include deaths from fentanyl if fentanyl can be traced to a specific individual.
First-degree murder in Arizona is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty.
A criminal justice advocate told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday: Senate Bill 1029 It imposes murder charges on drug possession even in cases of accidental death.
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Timothy Sparling, an attorney for Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, asked lawmakers to imagine a middle-class Arizona family with one member who recently had surgery and went on vacation after borrowing fentanyl from a friend. rice field. During their absence, their children throw a party and the child overdoses on the fentanyl left behind.
“Will Arizona’s middle class be charged with murder under the bill? The answer is yes, absolutely,” Sperling said. Fentanyl patches are used by cancer patients for pain management, and accidental overdose in children due to these patches is a problem. Common.
Sperling also said the bill would not act as a deterrent and would create new penalties for the law, which would make users fear reporting an overdose, leading to more deadly overdoses. claimed.
“They’re not going to report someone overdosing,” Sperling said. “That would lead to more deaths across the Valley.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is much more potent than other opioids.it is partially responsible Increase in deaths from drug overdose Both nationally and locally, according to the DEA.
Fentanyl in Arizona has been booming in recent years. In 2021, the Scottsdale Police Department and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office seized the records. 1.7 million fentanyl tablets Over 10 kilograms of fentanyl powder in one survey.
In two months of 2021, Phoenix’s DEA has seized more than 3 million fentanyl pills and 45 kilograms of fentanyl powder and arrested 40 people.
medicine also Passed the heroine for the first time as the most trafficked drug across the US-Mexico border.In Pima County, health authorities distribute test strips Allow residents to determine if a drug contains fentanyl.
Khan argued that the state’s Good Samaritan Act would not be affected by the bill and would protect those seeking an overdose. He said it would simply expand state regulation. felony murder law Include fentanyl.
“Everybody in this room knows someone died from fentanyl. It’s time to drop the hammer,” said an agitated Khan, who heads the Judiciary Commission, in response to the sparring. rice field.
Khan’s bill is one of two fentanyl-related bills he’s currently working on, and Sperling said they would be “disastrous” together if passed. Khan’s another invoice, Senate Bill 1027, Manufacturing fentanyl for minors under the age of 12 establishes it as a dangerous crime against children and, according to some, reduces the amount of fentanyl in private possession. can be prosecuted for marketing purposes.
“We will fill prisons with drug users, not drug manufacturers,” Sperling said. “People who saw their friends die”
One person with a history of opioid addiction told the committee about her own experience of seeing a friend overdose and how Khan’s suggestion affected her if it was the law at the time. rice field.
“Some people are lucky enough to survive, some aren’t,” said Karla Williams, adding that she’s been sober for seven years. , I remembered when one of my friends passed out while on an opioid and I didn’t realize he had stopped breathing. She was noticed by another person who was with her, who immediately took her to the shower and turned on her cold water.
“What if my other friends didn’t realize I wasn’t okay?” Williams said. “I promise I never intended to kill anyone during my addiction. I was only thinking about my addiction and getting high.”
Khan dismissed Williams’ testimony as “irrelevant” because none of Williams’ friends died during the overdose.
“I could die driving home,” Khan said. “I think your testimony misses the point.”
Tucson Republican Senator Justin Wadsak similarly dismissed concerns about the bill and its possible impact on people who could unwittingly cause drug overdoses, saying that someone in Pima County could shared stories of causing overdoses in people. Others thought it was a sleeping pill, but it was laced with fentanyl.
“If they’re going to be drug dealers and they don’t know the risk they’re going to take, that’s the risk they’re willing to take,” Wadsak said. is committing murder.”
Khan also dismissed statistics that Arizona’s prison system was one of them. fastest growing in the country And the state has one of the largest prison populations in the country.
“We are in very thorny territory with this bill, especially when we are responsible for prosecuting these cases and prosecuting individuals if we don’t have county attorneys here to answer questions.” D-Phoenix Senator Anna Hernandez said: “I will vote against this bill.”
Senator Kristin Marsh, D-Phoenix, I lost my son to a fentanyl overdose. The drug had been laced after taking Percocet pills that he didn’t know about.It led her to defend the bill Legalized fentanyl test strips.
“This is a difficult piece of legislation for me because I have less than 24 hours to go to court and make a statement regarding the victim’s impact on my son’s death,” he said in the court system. She voted against the bill.
The bill, like Khan’s other fentanyl bills, was proposed without stakeholder consultation, thus drawing criticism from Democrats who felt that involving stakeholders would make for a more comfortable bill. Collected.
The bill will be passed in accordance with party line and will be debated throughout the Senate.
