Posted: | October 16, 2023 04:13 PM |
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From: | Representative Zachary Mako |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Amending Title 18 - Drug Delivery Resulting in Death |
In response to the marked increase in the use and trafficking of heroin and fentanyl in this Commonwealth, I intend to introduce legislation to hold drug dealers strictly liable for any unlawful sale of a controlled substance that results in death. As you are aware, overdose deaths have skyrocketed in recent years. According to the Pennsylvania Overdose Information Network, there were 4,703 overdoses in this Commonwealth alone in 2022. Perhaps even more alarming, teen overdose deaths have doubled over the past three years. This increase in fatalities, which shows no signs of abating, can largely be attributed to the rise of the unlawful sale and usage of fentanyl, an opiate-based drug that can be 50 times more potent than heroin. According to the current Administrator of the DEA, “[f]entanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.” Here are some of the significant dangers associated with the sale and use of fentanyl:
The individuals who knowingly traffic and sell fentanyl, heroin, and other opioids in this Commonwealth are acutely aware of the risks associated with a buyer’s ingestion of these drugs. By selling a deadly substance like fentanyl or heroin, these dealers are callously disregarding a considerable and obvious threat to human life. In drug delivery resulting in death prosecutions, defendants commonly argue that other drugs or alcohol found in the victim’s system were the actual cause of the victim’s death, not the drug sold by the defendant. My legislation will prohibit defendants from raising this defense when a victim dies as a result of using a substance that was unlawfully sold by a defendant. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation to better protect our constituents from the deadly threat posed by fentanyl and other opioids. |
Introduced as HB1900