The Texas Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a key bill of the Legislature’s war on opioids that would increase the penalties related to the sale and production of fentanyl, by classifying overdoses from the drug as “poisonings.”
Senate Bill 645 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would achieve one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s legislative priorities by opening the door for prosecutors to charge people who make, sell and deliver fentanyl with murder.
The bill would also increase the penalty for making or delivering less than 1 gram of fentanyl from a state jail felony to a third-degree felony. If a person dies from an overdose as a result of that manufacturing or delivery of the drug, that penalty is escalated to a second-degree felony. In 2021, Huffman authored a law that increased penalties for manufacturing or delivering more than 1 gram of fentanyl.
