The bill would hold drug sellers responsible for deaths caused by their distribution of laced drugs, even if doing so was down to mere carelessness.
By Norah White
The Senate Committee on Judiciary is hashing out whether a drug dealer who sold illegal, laced drugs that killed another person can plead ignorance in their defense.
It’s an issue of whether they can use the defense of, “‘Well, I thought that was cocaine. I didn’t realize it had fentanyl,’” said Michele Childs, legislative counsel, when she testified in the committee Jan. 11 on a bill to prohibit that defense.
On top of the policy related to laced drugs, S.58 would require anyone found guilty of selling an illegal drug that killed someone to serve at least two years in prison without the possibility of parole or probation, unless a court decides an alternative sentence will serve equal justice. The bill doesn’t say how judges should reach that finding.
But most testimony on the bill has centered on a loosely related provision: The legislation would again delay the rollout of a 2018 bill that moves 19-year-olds charged with crimes from criminal to family court.
Holding dealers accountable
There were 212 “accidental and undetermined” opioid-related overdose deaths among Vermont residents in November 2023, according to the Vermont Department of Health — up from just 69 deaths reported a decade earlier in 2013.
The bill would hold drug sellers responsible for deaths caused by their distribution of laced drugs, even if doing so was down to mere carelessness, Childs said at the meeting.
“I know of a case where somebody took a drug that contains the animal tranquilizer, and the people that gave it to this person couldn’t care less that he overdosed,” Childs said.
That person died, she said.
Childs said the bill, stricter than current law, will heighten drug sellers’ awareness of the consequences of handing out laced drugs and lessen the likelihood of deadly overdoses.
Delay ‘Raise the age’
In July, Vermont is set to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include 19-year-olds. If S.58 passes, that start date will get pushed back to April 1, 2025.
Vermont was the first state to identify 18-year-olds as juveniles in the eyes of the courts in 2018 by passing Act 201. It was a step in the right direction, said Tyler Allen, adolescent services director for the Department for Children and Families.
“Brain science indicates that it’s the way to work with the youthful population,” he said.
But Allen said his department needs more resources before they bring the age up another notch.
“Right now we’re at a point in time that we have an unprecedented challenge level against DCF in terms of meeting youth needs across the whole breadth of the youth we serve,” Allen said.
A delay like the one included in S.58 will allow officials to gather more resources to help 19-year-olds, Allen said.
Gov. Phil Scott, who supported Act 201, agrees.
“This bill again delays the ‘raise the age’ provision, which has put older, more violent offenders into our system and creates a number of unintended consequences that harm, rather than help, our youth,” Scott said in a March 26 statement.
Act 201 proposed a 2022 date for raising the age to 19-year-olds. But it was put on hold after requests from the children and families department because of limited resources.
Scott said in his statement that the delay is attached to S.58 because drug sellers tend to target young people to move their products.
“We have observed drug traffickers are preying on young adults, using them because they know accountability is less likely,” Scott said.
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