Tough new fentanyl laws ignite debate over how to tackle overdose crisis
Critics say a tough law-and-order approach could undermine public health goals and advances in drug treatment .
Three teenage girls were found slumped in a car in the parking lot of a rural Tennessee high school last month, hours before graduation. Two had died of fentanyl overdoses. The third, a 17-year-old boy, was rushed to hospital in critical condition. Two days later, she was charged with the girls' murder.
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Prosecutors cited a Tennessee law that allows for bring homicide charges against someone who gives fentanyl to someone who dies from it.
"We have this law to punish drug dealers who poison and kill people," said Mark E. Davidson, the district attorney prosecuting the case in Fayette County, Tennessee. "And we also want it to be a deterrent to those who continue to use these drugs."
Dozens of states, devastated by relentless overdose deaths , enacted similar legislation and other laws to severely increase penalties for a drug that can kill with just a few milligrams.
In the session alone, hundreds of Fentanyl crime bills have been introduced in at least 46 states, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. Virginia lawmakers have codified fentanyl as "a weapon of terrorism...
Critics say a tough law-and-order approach could undermine public health goals and advances in drug treatment .
Three teenage girls were found slumped in a car in the parking lot of a rural Tennessee high school last month, hours before graduation. Two had died of fentanyl overdoses. The third, a 17-year-old boy, was rushed to hospital in critical condition. Two days later, she was charged with the girls' murder.
For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio, a new iOS app available to news subscribers.
Prosecutors cited a Tennessee law that allows for bring homicide charges against someone who gives fentanyl to someone who dies from it.
"We have this law to punish drug dealers who poison and kill people," said Mark E. Davidson, the district attorney prosecuting the case in Fayette County, Tennessee. "And we also want it to be a deterrent to those who continue to use these drugs."
Dozens of states, devastated by relentless overdose deaths , enacted similar legislation and other laws to severely increase penalties for a drug that can kill with just a few milligrams.
In the session alone, hundreds of Fentanyl crime bills have been introduced in at least 46 states, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. Virginia lawmakers have codified fentanyl as "a weapon of terrorism...
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