Only a few fentanyl-related bills survived a special public safety hearing in the California Legislature on Thursday — and one from Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris that would strengthen penalties for trafficking fentanyl through social media was not among them.
The special Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing — put together late last week to hear six bills after most fentanyl-related legislation stalled in the statehouse this year — gave the OK to bills meant to enhance cooperation among state organizations investigating opioid traffickers and to create an addiction and overdose prevention task force.
But the Irvine Democrat’s bill was held up in the committee. It sought to make the sale of fentanyl on social media punishable by imprisonment in county jail for up to nine years.
Legislators on the committee opted to move it to an “interim study session” — meaning the bill will be further worked on but won’t be passed anytime soon.
Petrie-Norris said she is disappointed in the result.
“The fentanyl epidemic is an urgent public health crisis, and we must act with real urgency to stop these tragic deaths,” Petrie-Norris said. “Yes, we need a comprehensive approach that includes more money for drug treatment, rehabilitation and education. We also need stronger enforcement — online traffickers who are poisoning our kids must be held accountable.”
In 2021, fentanyl killed 5,722 people in California, many of whom thought they were taking prescription medications or other drugs.
Perla Mendoza from Seal Beach was one of several family members who recently traveled to Sacramento to implore legislators to end the hold on fentanyl legislation. Her son died in September 2020 after taking a pill he purchased through Snapchat that he believed to be pain medication. Instead, it had been laced with fentanyl, Mendoza said.
“Allowing them to continue business as usual, you’re setting up serial killers,” Mendoza recently said….
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