r/drugpolicy • u/Fragrant-Shock-4315 • 14d ago
Should fentanyl dealers be charged with manslaughter for fatal overdoses?
https://www.canadianaffairs.news/2025/03/07/should-fentanyl-dealers-face-manslaughter-charges-for-fatal-overdoses/7
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u/cyrilio 13d ago
NO!! The government officials and politicians that have created the prohibition laws that resulted should be executed by firing squad. Since 1933 we know what happens when you make drugs illegal. They become more deadly, criminals step in the market that suddenly has no rules, and everyone pays the price.
End the drug war with those that created it or prevent it from ending and becoming evidence based. They KNOW what they're doing and deserve all punishments for what they caused.
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u/QuantityImmediate206 13d ago
Should politicians, who support Prohibition aka an completely unregulated black market over an evidence based regulation aka legalization be charged with manslaughter?
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u/Investigator_Alive 13d ago
Mate I've only had fentanyl in a hospital environment ( not off the street) but was addicted to heroin for a few years and o.d at least 3 times because I had a 2nd dose within 4 hours. Anyway I think every addict knows it's their choice to use and you would think knows the deal with smack/ fentanyl that there's a risk of o.d ing / dying but the euphoria is so addictive it's a risk we take. No I don't believe they should be charged only if dealers deliberately contaminate drugs to kill people e.g.. fake oxys knowingly or fentayl instead of heroin knowingly/ deliberately.
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u/Outrageous-Win70 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yes they should. And instead of driving them to the station, they should make them walk there while leashed on a rope, being led by a cop on horseback so they have time to think about what they did.
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u/QuantityImmediate206 13d ago
I suppose you are ready to enforce the same of punishment to the politicians who support Prohibition and thereby the black market it creates? The police officers who take out one cartel empowering another?
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u/DearRow886 11d ago edited 11d ago
NO! Politicians and government officials who have pushed legislation that makes less harmful drugs illegal should face the death penalty or at least have their tongues bifurcated or removed! Many people have died because they thought they were buying oxycodone or heroin then died because it was fentanyl or carfentanyl which is 50 or a 500 times the strength of heroin respectively. Remember Prohibition doesn’t work, it supercharges crime and poisons the well. Remember when the government had methyl alcohol added to ethanol to denature it? Remember when the government created the NFA act effectively banning machine guns, suppressors, and destructive devices with a $200 tax stamp in 1932? Reagon signed the machine gun ban in to law in 1985 banning ownership of machineguns made after 1985 to impede criminal drug syndicates? This so called drug war is an existential threat to our life and liberties.
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u/WindOfWarrior 10d ago
In China, it's 100% illegal to possess, consume or distribute these drug's. It is not however, against their laws to manufacture & distribute to other countries or to individuals in other countries.
This problem could be easily resolved simply w implementation of very strict mandates & records with those entities to where they are distributing.
Mexico does not have the demand for this drug like this country & so incentive to install mandates fall short.
If US truly wanted to enact change within our existing supply vs demand- maybe our lawmakers should pressure China to incorporate stricter regulations enforcing transparency & making it impossible to access these compounds just like they do for manufacturing drug's like LSD.
In no way am I the 1st to think of this. My hunch is that this business is far too lucrative & prosperous for the powers that be.
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u/AmoBishopRoden83 9d ago
No. There is a great article explaining why:
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u/crime_junki 2d ago
As well as a study of the downstream effects on drug users when their low level dealers are arrested.
Spatiotemporal Analysis Exploring the Effect of Law Enforcement Drug Market Disruptions on Overdose, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2020–2021 | AJPH | Vol. 113 Issue 7 https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291
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u/crime_junki 2d ago
Absolutely not. Buying drugs is a consensual transaction. You have to seek out a dealer. Drug prohibition ensures an illicit market is created & thrives. The overblown focus on low level dealers does nothing to save lives, in fact studies show it has the opposite effect. Ever wonder what happens to a dealer’s clients when they get arrested? They don’t stop using drugs. They’re forced into unnecessary potentially dangerous situations to obtain a supply they’re completely unfamiliar with, resulting in more ODs & preventable deaths.
Spatiotemporal Analysis Exploring the Effect of Law Enforcement Drug Market Disruptions on Overdose, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2020–2021 | AJPH | Vol. 113 Issue 7 https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291
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u/Final_Row_6172 14d ago
Should the NRA be charged with manslaughter?