Texas Lawmakers Unanimously Pass Bill That Will Allow Fentanyl Dealers To Be Charged With Murder The “Combating Fentanyl” bill introduced by Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, SB 645, passed unanimously. The legislation would reclassify deaths due to fentanyl as poisonings and open up anyone who makes, sells, or delivers the drug to being charged with murder if someone overdoses. According to a report from the Texas Tribune, “the bill would also increase the penalty for making or delivering less than 1 gram of fentanyl from a state jail felony to a third-degree felony. If a person dies from an overdose as a result of that manufacturing or delivery of the drug, that penalty is escalated to a second-degree felony. In 2021, Huffman authored a law that increased penalties for manufacturing or delivering more than 1 gram of fentanyl.”
