california-fentanyl-dealers-legislation

With overdose deaths accelerating in California, the State Assembly public safety committee on Thursday blocked two of the bills, which would have strengthened punishments for dealers who kill or seriously injure someone with fentanyl or are caught with enough of the synthetic drug to kill thousands of people. The panel also loosened a proposed ban on dealers carrying guns before punting the bill along with a measure to increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking on social media.

"Despite all the talk, the extremist legislators who opposed these bills guaranteed that innocent Californians will continue to die, victims of drug dealers profiting off poisoning our communities," Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher said in a statement after the hearing. "These bills were not criminalizing addiction, returning to the ‘war on drugs,’ or any other lie told by the pro-fentanyl lobbyists. They were reasonable, bipartisan proposals to save lives."