Thread: NC Republicans seek tougher fentanyl laws, change to Good Samaritan Law

NC Republicans seek tougher fentanyl laws, change to Good Samaritan Law




Kallie Cox
Tue, March 14, 2023 at 9:57 AM EDT



A new bill making its way through North Carolina’s General Assembly aims to increase the penalties for fentanyl distribution.

Senate Bill 189 would increase the fines for those convicted of distributing fentanyl, create new pathways to prosecute those arrested on death by distribution charges, and include a small amount of the drug in the state’s Good Samaritan Law.

Through September of last year, 2,539 North Carolinians died of fentanyl poisoning, according to the Office of The Chief Medical Examiner. That was an increase of 6% from the previous year.

State Sen. Michael Lazzara, a Republican representing Onslow County, is one of the primary sponsors of the bill. Last week, he urged his colleagues to pass the bill. He said 11 North Carolinians each day died from fentanyl in 2021, according to reporting by NC Policy Watch.

“Putting criminals who distribute fentanyl behind bars will help to disrupt the supply of fentanyl and send a clear message that this kind of behavior will be unacceptable,” Lazzara said March 7 at a committee meeting. “It can and also be used as an opportunity, as a resource, to help those in need, such as addiction treatment break free from their addiction.”

All of the bill’s sponsors are Republicans.

One of the goals of the bill is to aid prosecutors in proving death by distribution.

Death by distribution is a charge that can be levied against a person who provides drugs to someone who later dies from the drug.

Seventy-five people have been charged with death by distribution from 2019 through 2021, data show. Three people were charged in Mecklenburg County.

Six defendants statewide were convicted. The other cases are still pending.

Police and court leaders say death by distribution cases are difficult to prosecute.
Lawmakers like Lazzara are looking at the issue of fentanyl from an enforcement standpoint, for them the passage of SB 189 would be celebrated. Others hope to address the root cause of addiction and say that the bill would not help those who are suffering.

The bill is not evidence based and will likely cause much more harm than good and increase overdoses in the state, Jennifer Carroll, a medical anthropologist who focuses on substance abuse and overdose prevention said. Carroll is a a subject matter expert and program consultant for the Division of Overdose Prevention which is part of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The bill makes minor adjustments to a series of pre-existing criminal justice oriented responses to substance use none of which have any evidence behind them that they’ve reduced the drug supply, that they reduce overdoses or that they keep communities safer,” Carroll said. The only thing we know that they do is cost a lot of money, and give a lot of people criminal records and sometimes incarceration.”

Senators advanced the bill “without question or debate,” NC Policy watch stated in their report.




Kelly Kennedy, outside the tattoo shop where her son worked, holds a framed childhood picture of her son, Logan McAdams. He died on April 30, 2022, in Charlotte, from fentanyl overdose.

Changes in state law

The bill would increase the fine related to trafficking heroin, fentanyl, and carfentanil, which is a synthetic opioid more potent than fentanyl.

The felony classifications and prison sentences for trafficking these drugs would remain the same, but fines would increase from $50,000 to $500,000 for those distributing between four and 14 grams, $100,000 to $750,000 for 14-28 grams, and $500,000 to $1,000,000 for those distributing more than 28 grams.

SB189’s primary purpose is to expand prosecutors’ ability to charge someone with death by distribution-related offenses up to and including 2nd degree murder.

One of the main components under current law that prosecutors have to prove to convict someone of death by distribution is that the drug was sold to the person who died, meaning money or something of value was traded in exchange.

Under the new bill, prosecutors would only have to prove that the drug that killed someone was given to them by the suspect, according to Eddie Caldwell, executive vice president and general counsel for the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association. The Sheriff’s Association supports the bill calling it a “crucial step” in the fight against fentanyl.

The bill will also partially expand the state’s Good Samaritan Law by offering additional protection to those who call 911 when witnessing an overdose.

The Good Samaritan Law protects those who are in possession of a drug from prosecution if they call 911 for someone who overdosed. However, current state laws will not provide this protection if someone is in possession of felony drugs such as fentanyl.

SB189 would grant immunity to those in possession of less than one gram of cocaine, heroin, or fentanyl if they call 911 in good faith. If a person is in possession of more than one gram they may be prosecuted.

What advocates are saying

Barbara Walsh, executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, said she fully supports the bill and believes it will help to provide justice for the families of fentanyl victims by allowing more people to be prosecuted with death by distribution.

Knowing that the person responsible for the death of your loved one is behind bars provides a sense of closure many families of fentanyl victims don’t have in North Carolina, including Walsh. Her daughter Sophia, 24, died after accidentally ingesting liquid from a water bottle tainted with fentanyl while visiting an acquaintance in Banner Elk, North Carolina. This person was charged but never prosecuted, she said.

“I have no closure, but I do know some folks who have been fortunate enough … who did get justice,” Walsh said. “ And they can sleep at night because they know the person that killed their child is behind bars and can’t kill anybody else and that’s closure.”

The one problem Walsh has with the bill is that it allows up to one gram of fentanyl possession to be covered under the Good Samaritan protections. It only takes two milligrams of fentanyl to kill someone and one gram could kill 500 people, Walsh said.

But, Walsh is enthusiastic that it will incentivize more people to call 911 when they see something. “I think it will make a huge difference,” she said.

Carroll has a different view on the bill. She likened it to “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic except you’re smacking passengers in the face while you do it.”

Instead of cutting off the supply of fentanyl and helping those who overdose, the bill would make people more scared to call 911 because of stronger death by distribution charges and a lack of true protection in the state’s already complicated Good Samaritan Law.

“The more that we criminalize these sorts of things, the harder it will be to call 911,” Carroll said.

She said the state’s Good Samaritan law is undermined by death by distribution laws and is already too complicated to understand and should be re-written.

“You essentially have to have legal aid level knowledge to understand what is and is not covered by the law in the first place,” Carroll said. “And so adding another bullet point to that long, complicated list of random amounts that may or may not be covered, it’s insulting.”

What would truly help in the fight against overdoses is safe supply, reducing criminalization, and expanding access to Narcan, Carroll said.

“It feels good if you really want justice,” Carroll said. “But, you can either feel good or you can save lives you can’t have both”




https://www.yahoo.com/news/nc-republ...135736825.html