New North Carolina law allows prosecutors to charge drug dealers with murder

[Calista241]

Source: The Hill

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) on Monday signed into law a bill that allows prosecutors to charge drug dealers with second-degree murder in the case of an overdose death.

...

The new law allows prosecutors to pursue felony charges after an illegal sale results in an overdose. Officials will have to prove malice, a high standard that would possibly make convictions hard to obtain, the The Associated Press noted.

Those convicted could face up to 40 years in prison.

Doctors and pharmacists who prescribe opioids for legitimate medical purposes are exempt from prosecution under a “Good Samaritan” clause written into the bill, WTVD reported.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/452192-new-north-carolina-law-allows-prosecutors-to-charge-drug-dealers-with

[emmaverybo]

1. Think involuntary manslaughter might be enough. NT

[ck4829]

25. It should be

[Cirque du So-What]

2. '...prove malice, a high standard...'

Hard to obtain? Try nearly impossible! Unless the judge, prosecutor, and jury are hopelessly rigged, seems proving malice would be hopeless.

[ronatchig]

9. There are.more than a few

District courts in NC that are wound so tight that many people will be in danger from this law. This is typical gop "throw the book at 'em"tripe. It costs money to open rehabs and open avenues to addicts. The prisoners cost money too, but that money turns into profits for the well heeled.

[Stonepounder]

19. Of course this law will only be used on blacks.

Y'all know that blacks are full of malice and whites are just misunderstood, right?

[nocoincidences]

26. I agree that this is exactly how this law will be applied.

Anytime you leave wiggle room, POC will get the worst end of it!

[Marengo]

3. I'm okay with this

[ArizonaLib]

10. If they do this, they should apply this with all product liability deaths

including prescription drugs, those selling and serving alcohol, medical prosthetic devices, firearms, drinking water contamination, etc.

[dvan]

4. I'm sure they are drafting a similar bill

for gun dealers, right?... right?

[keithbvadu2]

6. Bingo!

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Yes, it's a product liability issue

by the logic of this bill they could charge car manufacturers with murder for vehicular homicide, and they're sure not going there

[The Mouth]

8. I'm as much of a 'gun fetishist' as anyone

and I agree. Sell a gun to someone without a background check (and common sense) and face the fucking music.

[3Hotdogs]

17. Remove "without a background check"

and your sentence is accurate.

[Everyman Jackal]

18. If the dealer does a background check

why should he or she be liable if that person murders someone? In FL and then NC I had a concealed weapons permit after a background check by the sheriff's departments. With it, I bought pistols without any wait time or further background check. If I murdered someone should the dealer be prosecuted or the sheriff?

[3Hotdogs]

20. what it, 35,000 people get killed each year by guns.

Maybe 200k get injured but that number is not nationally tallied.

Guns should not be sold at all.

[Everyman Jackal]

21. So change the Constitution.

I imagine there would be fewer murders without guns but there would still be murders. Human nature. And if they were not sold people would make them. I could and did make zip guns before the age of 12. Bullets are not easy to make but not impossible. What about people who hunt for food? Then there are military weapons which will always be easy to buy on the black market.

[cstanleytech]

12. Or a doctor that prescribes a narcotic for someone that overdoses not to mention pharmacists.

[Mazeltov Cocktail]

5. So, the Sackler Family are "good samaritans"?

[Midnightwalk]

11. White collar people are safe

Even if they ignore signs and protocols and get you addicted. But the guy you wind up buying your last dose from can be charged with murder.

The murder charge can be used to push people into accepting longer sentences on the drug charges.

I’m not sure what the best answer is but mass incarceration of poor often non-white people hasn’t worked.

[The Liberal Lion]

14. Amen to that

[The Liberal Lion]

13. An overdose is a personal choice of the user not of the salesperson.

I'm also guessing they won't hold pharmaceutical companies to this standard.
This, is my friends, a very stupid law.
From a cost point of view states should be looking for ways to reduce prison populations not add to it.
As an industry, both private and public, prison systems produce nothing of much value, not even public safety.
As supposedly the most enlightened people on the planet why are we Americans seemingly oblivious to this?

[Jedi Guy]

15. "An overdose is a personal choice of the user not of the salesperson."

That's hardly always the case. For illicit drugs, they can be (and frequently are) cut with other substances in order to make more money. Sometimes those substances are benign and sometimes they spectacularly lethal. The user has no real way of knowing, and the dealer may not know either. That's one of the problems with illicit drugs, unfortunately.

With prescription pharmaceuticals, there are such things as accidental overdoses, as well. I once had a time-release pain medication that hit me all at once, most likely because the sealant on the tablet was cracked in a way that wasn't obvious. Instead of getting the medication over 8 hours, I got it in one shot. I was very fortunate that it didn't kill me, particularly since I lived alone at the time. As it was, I more or less grayed out for a few hours and my memory of that night has big gaps in it.

I definitely wouldn't characterize an overdose as a "personal choice" unless the person in question is suicidal or they're taking overlarge doses in order to get high.

Insofar as the "War on Drugs" is concerned, it's been a spectacular success for the private prison industry, among others. For the general public, not so much. For-profit prisons need to go, and America should consider what we're doing wrong, given the recidivism rates of some European countries. Our justice system has always been focused more on punishment than redemption/rehabilitation, though.

[LanternWaste]

22. You will of course, support that conclusion with objective evidence, yes?

"An overdose is a personal choice of the user not of the salesperson..."

You will of course, support that allegation with objective evidence, yes?

Or is this simply another self-righteous allegation (e.g. "boot-licking Democrats" "Chuck Schumer the Caver", or "I make my choices in full recognition of their consequences&quot which means nothing, but looks cool on a t-shirt?

[jpak]

16. Goddamn, Goddamn the Pusher

[ck4829]

23. Kick

[ck4829]

24. That last paragraph though