ANNAPOLIS, MD — Amy Fettig, co-executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, testified before the Maryland House Judiciary Committee last week, urging them to reject drug overdose legislation.
Fettig said what was supposed to be a bill targeting “high-level traffickers” may end up leading to “significant increases in overdose deaths despite a dramatic uptick in drug-induced homicide prosecutions.”
Fettig urged the committee to “reject this harmful legislation” —HB 1398—and to instead “invest in real solutions to the opioid crisis,” according to FJP.
Fettig called the bill “unnecessary,” charging it does “nothing to enhance public safety.”
According to FJP, HB 1398—the “Distribution of Heroin or Fentanyl Causing Serious Bodily Injury or Death” Act—would “impose harsh criminal penalties on families, friends, or package delivery workers by holding them liable for overdose deaths they did not intend or could not foresee.”
Fettig’s testimony began with, “Drug-induced homicide laws do not prevent overdose deaths, they exacerbate them, and only lead to more devastating preventable deaths as part of our country’s failed ‘War on Drugs.’”
FJP noted a trend based on pre-existing laws already set in New Jersey, Tennessee, North Carolina, Illinois, Louisiana and New York.
“Maryland already has robust ‘Drug Kingpin’ laws allowing for the sentencing of large-scale traffickers to decades in prison,” Fettig stated.
HB 1398’s “broad language” would ensure “low-level users, family members, and friends of overdose victims could be prosecuted,” according to FJP, further reporting precedents in other states where “similar laws are already in place.”
Fettig proposed in her issued statement, “Instead of doubling down on failed punitive policies, lawmakers should focus on expanding access to treatment, harm reduction services, and overdose prevention measures—proven strategies that actually save lives.”
FJP provided a 12-page compilation of research and experience that reveal “laws like HB 1398 fail to deter drug use, discourage people from seeking medical help in overdose situations, and exacerbate racial disparities in the criminal legal system.”
“Criminalizing people struggling with addiction and their families does not make our communities safer,” Fettig said, adding, “It only pushes people further into the shadows, increasing harm and reducing the likelihood that people will call for help in overdose situations.”
