Tucson mom Theresa Guerrero lost her son Jacob to fentanyl in May 2020.
"We as parents don't call it an overdose. We call it drug-induced homicide, "Guerrero said. "We want to go after the dealers, they're killing people."
Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will hear a bill from State Senator Anthony Kern. Senate Bill 1029 imposes a first-degree murder charge on drug traffickers or dealers if it is proven the fentanyl, they sold to someone resulted in death.
"This bill is not targeting the fentanyl pill given to one person from the next. What it is targeting is enterprises that are committing murder on our streets," Senator Kern (R), Glendale District-27 said on the Senate floor.
As of March 16th, the Arizona Department of Health Services reports there have been 47 opioid deaths in Arizona in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,862 deaths.
If the current trend holds up for the entire year, it will make a dramatic decline in the number of people in Arizona who die from opioid overdoses.
"Further criminalizing a drug that's already illegal is not going to make an impact reducing overdose deaths," said Haley Coles.
Coles is the executive director of Sonoran Prevention Works, a Phoenix-based organization that works to help people who are suffering from addiction in several states across the country.
"Right now there are already pretty serious charges of selling fentanyl. Three to 12 and a half years right now. Why do you think increasing the punishment is going to help? That hasn't helped," Coles said.
A conviction for first-degree murder carries with it a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. Another bill that passed the House is now in the Senate from State Representative Matt Gress (R) Phoenix-District 4 would increase the time in prison on a conviction of selling fentanyl from five to 15 years.
Theresa Guerrero lives the nightmare of losing a son to fentanyl.
"Not enough is being done. It's an epidemic," she says.
Republican lawmakers agree and believe they are doing just what Guerrero wants them to do.
