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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	December 22, 2020 04:09 PM
From:	Senator Mike Regan
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	Fentanyl Trafficking Sentencing and Penalties

As evidenced by the Governor’s twelfth renewal of his Opioid Disaster Declaration, it is obvious that the opioid crisis continues to devastate our Commonwealth, and COVID-19 has only made it worse.   Drug overdose deaths are on the rise in many of our counties, including in my own district, as individuals cope with factors such as isolation and unemployment – and for some, a lack of access to treatment.   One constant, however, is the continued proliferation of fentanyl, an inexpensive-to-produce synthetic opioid that is proving more and more deadly as users of drugs such as heroin are oblivious to the fact that fentanyl is being mixed with their drug of choice.    So far this year, York County has 171 confirmed opioid overdose deaths, and both the District Attorney and the Coroner indicate that fentanyl is the leading cause for a vast majority of those.  Considering Pennsylvania lost more than 4,300 people to drug overdoses in 2019, 80% of those to opioids, the drug dealers selling this deadly substance must be held accountable.  For that reason, I will be re-introducing Senate Bill 8 to target dealers of fentanyl by establishing increased sentencing guidelines and penalties specifically related to the trafficking of fentanyl.   My goal with this legislation is to give our prosecutors another tool for combating the impact fentanyl traffickers are having on our communities.   Co-sponsors of SB 8 were: ARGALL, BLAKE, BREWSTER, BROOKS, BROWNE, DiSANTO, HUTCHINSON, LANGERHOLC, MARTIN, MENSCH, PHILLIPS-HILL, SABATINA, STEFANO, TARTAGLIONE, J. WARD, WHITE, and YUDICHAK.

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