Arizona State Representative Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) announced Tuesday the introduction of House Bill (HB) 2167, known as the Ashley Dunn Act, which may be a tool to help prosecutors crack down on fentanyl peddlers.
“The safety of the people in our state is my top priority,” said Nguyen in a press release. “Fentanyl is killing tens of thousands of Americans each year and destroying families. It’s a public crisis that should unite political parties to act urgently. We are in a war to save lives.”
State Representative @QuangNguyenAZ sponsors #HB2167 to combat fentanyl epidemic in Arizona.
“We are in a war to save lives”
READ MORE👉 https://t.co/zPhzl2p0DM#AZLeg @AZHouseGOP pic.twitter.com/2237Y2Q2KC
— Arizona House Republicans (@AZHouseGOP) January 17, 2023
Should this bill become law, it may help bring the hammer down on anyone involved in a drug trafficking homicide. This crime is defined as when someone transfers a dangerous or narcotic drug to another person who dies as a result of intaking the drug. The sale of the drug has to be a contributing factor in the persona’s death, so a dealer would not be charged if someone bought and used drugs but died in an unrelated incident. However, the state is not required to prove the sale was the “sole and immediate” cause of the user’s death.
Anyone charged with a drug trafficking homicide will face a Class 1 felony, which can result in between 10 and 25 years in prison.
The bill got its name from Ashely Dunn, a young woman from Yavapai County who overdosed in May 2021 at 26. The cause of death was consuming narcotics tainted with fentanyl.
The Epoch Times reported that Mitch Dunn and Josephine Dunn, Ashely Dunn’s parents, spoke out about the dangers of fentanyl at an awareness event, saying their daughter was murdered. Josephine Dunn said drug dealers poisoned her daughter and called them “serial killers.”
Nguyen previously introduced the Ashely Dunn Act in December of 2021 as HB 2021, with some differences between the versions. The bill’s previous version was Retained on the Calendar by the House Committee of the Whole and eventually died. HB 2021 had two co-sponsors joining Nguyen, but now HB 2167 has 28.
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to Nguyen for additional information but did not hear back before press time.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) shared that fentanyl is dangerous, not only for its potency but because it can be mixed in with other drugs. Illicit fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, and .2 milligrams of it can be deadly to a user, depending on their tolerance. Roughly 42 percent of illicit fentanyl pills, made to look like prescription drugs, tested by the DEA contain over the lethal dosage.
Moreover, as with Ashely Dunn’s case, fentanyl is not just found in illicit pills. The opioid can be added to other drugs, like heroin, to increase its potency, and trick users into believing it is a higher quality substance to boost revenue. Therefore, people may not realize they are intaking fentanyl, which can cause overdoses.
Furthermore, not only are fentanyl overdoses a common occurrence, but the drug has a pervasive presence in the country. Most illicit fentanyl is produced in China and Mexico and smuggled into the country across the southern border. In 2022 alone, the DEA seized 50,600,000 fentanyl pills.
In Arizona, Nogales Entry Port Director Michael Humphries announced that in the three months of the fiscal year (FY) 2023, more fentanyl has been seized at his port than during the entirety of FY2022. Since October, Humphries has announced major busts totaling roughly 16,211,700 pills confiscated, which has the potential to cause over 6,000,000 overdoses, based on the DEA’s findings.
The fentanyl flood does not stop either. On Friday, Humphries announced another major bust of 953,000 pills found concealed in commercial equipment.
On January 13th, CBP officers at the Nogales POE seized approximately 953,000 fentanyl pills and 2.65 pounds of cocaine concealed within commercial equipment in a vehicle. Most of the pills were the traditional blue color, some were green in color and some were “rainbow colored”. pic.twitter.com/MILVThUpDB
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) January 16, 2023
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Quang Nguyen” by Quang H. Nguyen. Background Photo “Yavapai County Courthouse” by Marine 69-71. CC BY-SA 4.0.
The sentence of 10 to 25 years is not enough. 25 to life would be much better. That would be a real deterant.