Measure providing stiffer penalties for fentanyl dealers moves
Sen. Jason Brodeur
The measure to make it easier for prosecutors to indict drug dealers for murder or attempted murder when customers overdose received a favorable vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice Committee March 21.
Lake Mary Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur said under current law those who provide controlled substance (heroin, fentanyl, or its derivatives) to someone resulting in death can be charged with a homicide. But If the same person overdose and they are revived, there is no crime committed.
“Very similar to what would happen if you shot somebody and they lived it was attempted murder, if you give someone a controlled substance and they survive this now makes that a crime,” Brodeur said.
Brodeur said his bill, SB 280, would make the penalty for providing drugs that lead to a first-time overdose a second-degree felony, and the penalty for a second overdose a first-degree felony.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, offered an amendment to clarify that those who seek medical assistance for an individual experiencing an alcohol or drug-related overdose are afforded “Good Samaritan Law” protections under F.S. §893.21.
Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Hollywood, however, raised concerns with the amendment over a cross-reference in the Good Samaritan statute that would only provide immunity from prosecution on the first offense of overdose and not the second.
“It should go in perpetuity that regardless of the circumstance if someone is suffering and overdosing . . . it should not hinge on the prior record of the individual whom we’re asking to do the right thing and to seek medical attention,” Pizzo said.
Staff indicated a technical adjustment could address that concern.
“The purpose of putting it into an amendment is to create an incentive for people if someone is, in fact, dying that they know via this new law that they can call for help, and will have all of the protections afforded to them under the Good Samaritan Law,” Ingoglia said. “We don’t want people just dying because they think it’s easier to get away with murder than it is to save a life.”
Brodeur agreed and said that a strict interpretation of the Good Samaritan Law says the protection for the possession or use of a controlled substance does not apply to the first-degree felony for the possession of more than 10 grams of a certain controlled substance.
Brodeur said he was fine with making technical changes to ensure everyone has an incentive to do the right thing.
“I’m okay with rewriting it to say listen we’re trying to save lives and so this applies to everyone who is in this specific situation under this specific statute. That’s fine, and we have another [committee] stop. We can do it then, that’s my commitment,” he said.
The next stop will be in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee following the 11-1 favorable vote. The lone dissent came from the vice chair of the committee, Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach.
In his close, Brodeur said his bill represents only one aspect of Florida’s battle against the opioid crisis.
“This law enforcement provision trying to address the fentanyl crisis isn’t the only solution, it’s an addition. It’s complementary and supplementary to everything else we’re doing with education, treatment, prevention, and recovery. All the things we are doing as a state to try and address this, the law enforcement piece is one of them,” Brodeur said.
