First-degree murder charges could result from a fentanyl death regardless of whether the person who supplied the drug knew it contained the dangerous opioid, under legislation approved Monday by the Iowa House.<\/p>\n
Some Democrats who opposed the measure said it could lead to life in prison for teens who unknowingly share a drug with a friend. Supporters argued that Iowa\u2019s serious opioid overdose rate justifies an \u201cextreme\u201d punishment for those who supply the drug.<\/p>\n
House File 2576, passed 86-12, would make a person who unlawfully supplies another individual with fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances eligible for a first-degree murder charge if consumption of the drug results in death. A conviction would carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n
The bill\u2019s floor manager, Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, said the measure is a necessary step in addressing the increasing fentanyl overdose rates in Iowa and nationwide.<\/p>\n
Though multiple lawmakers said addressing the problem must come from federal action on the U.S.-Mexico southern border, Meyer said increasing penalties was a means for state lawmakers to take action on preventing the flow of fentanyl into local communities.<\/p>\n
She said a law enforcement officer told her about a person who brings a \u201ccarload of drugs\u201d into Fort Dodge twice a week without any \u201cfear of any consequences\u201d for his actions after being arrested. Raising penalties will disincentivize drug traffickers who are currently operating in the state, she argued.<\/p>\n
But some Democrats argued that increasing penalties under the bill\u2019s language could result in first-degree murder charges for people who unintentionally provided fentanyl-laced substances to another person. Rep. Megan Srinivas, D-Des Moines, proposed an amendment requiring that a person must \u201cknowingly\u201d provide a substance containing the lethal dose of fentanyl for a first-degree murder charge to apply. The amendment failed.<\/p>\n
Srinivas brought up hypothetical a situation in which a teenager shares a pill that they do not know contains fentanyl with a friend or sibling, who then dies. Some of the fentanyl overdose deaths in Iowa have occurred when a minor takes a drug they do not know contains the substance. Srinivas argued that the bill as it stands could hurt people who are accidentally involved or victims themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re doling out these punishments, we have to be careful about who we\u2019re encompassing,\u201d Srinivas said. \u201cAre we going after the ultimate drug dealer? Or are we going after a random suburban kid, who has no idea (what) he found when he was up in the closet of his brother or older sister, and he and his friends mistakenly took pills they shouldn\u2019t have? Should they be behind bars for the rest of their life, ruining their lives?\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyer argued that by adding the stipulation of \u201cknowingly\u201d to the bill, drug dealers could claim that they were not aware drugs they are trafficking contained fentanyl and allow them to escape punishment. When asked if the bill would apply to a \u201c18-year-old who\u2019s sharing their drugs with a friend,\u201d Meyer said that it would.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, said he had difficulties with the bill because, while he supports increasing penalties for fentanyl traffickers, he does not believe that a young person sharing a drug should be subject to a life sentence without parole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen individuals that have been stopped, and had guns found in the car and then a sack of fentanyl \u2014 you know, I want that individual locked up,\u201d Abdul-Samad said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to see a baby locked up because they found a recreational drug that they thought was safe and ended up killing somebody because we haven\u2019t stopped fentanyl coming into this state, this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meyer said the high bar of punishment was necessary to prevent further fentanyl overdose deaths, and to deter traffickers from selling the drug in Iowa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an extreme punishment because we have an extreme problem in Iowa,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m here to fight for those parents, for those family members of people that are are getting swept up, for some reason taking a counterfeit pill which are plentiful in our state right now. We need to have an extreme solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9Copyright 2024, Iowa Capital Dispatch. Published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Read more at iowacapitaldispatch.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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