The Texas Senate has passed a bill (Senate Bill 645) that would define fentanyl poisoning as murder for purposes of prosecution and death certificates. The measure is one of Governor Greg Abbott's emergency items.
Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told the Senate that, over the past two years, the Texas Department of Public Safety had seized over 353 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill almost every person in the United States.
"So, to continue our efforts to keep this drug from hitting our communities," Huffman said, "the committee substitute to Senate Bill 645 increases the penalty for manufacturing or delivery of less than 1 gram of fentanyl from a state jail felony to a third degree felony. Furthermore, if an individual dies from a fentanyl overdose, the penalty would be enhanced to a second degree.”