(ConservativeSense.com) – The “Combatting Fentanyl” bill was just passed by the Texas Senate on Wednesday, which would allow state prosecutors to charge those who distribute fentanyl with murder.
Introduced by Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, Senate Bill 645 will classify drug overdoses as “poisonings.”
Huffman said that the extent of the danger of fentanyl is worse than people realize, that “even under 1 gram” is dangerous. As little as 2 mg of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and a pill can contain anywhere from .02 to 5.1 mg of the drug.
While introducing the bill on Wednesday, Huffman stated that the drug “is flooding our borders” and that “it is absolutely, without a doubt killing our citizens on a daily basis.” Huffman stressed that “it’s time that we take a comprehensive approach to combat this.”
After unanimously clearing the Sante, the bill is now heading to the state legislature. Celebrating the passing of the bill, Texas Gov. Greg Abbot tweeted on Wednesday night, “Here we go! You kill Texans with fentanyl. You get charged with murder.” Abbot’s been on a mission to increase border security as well as increasing penalties for drug violations and against those smuggling drugs over the border.
The issue is becoming one of the most contentious and urgent situations in the country. Even President Joe Biden had to acknowledge the fentanyl crisis in his last State of the Union address, which was greeted by cries of hypocrisy from Republican lawmakers who blame Biden administration policies for making the crisis worse.
The new Texas bill will increase the penalty for manufacturing and delivering fentanyl to a third-degree felony, even for amounts less than 1 gram, and will increase the penalty for lethal overdoses resulting from making or distributing the drug to a second-degree felony charge.
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