So, I question if Kami knowingly supplied Shane with fentanyl, or was she just an unwitting user who purchased what she thought was oxy for herself and her boyfriend.
A new law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2023, creating a criminal offense of murder for manufacturing or distributing fentanyl that results in death.
Yet, that law has primarily been used to target dealers. Ludwig’s arrest documents read like she and Nolen were addicts and consenting drug users.
My unpopular opinion is that prosecuting a drug user as if they are a murderer is a "tough on crime" stance that will evenutally backfire. And I think it's also a law that's rife for abuse. I doubt anyone that's rich or powerful and has a good lawyer will ever catch a murder charge for unknowingly giving a friend fentanyl.
Catherine Evelyn Smith was a part time legal secretary, drug dealer and groupie: who injected John Belushi with coke/heroin mix resulting in his death. In March 1982, long before Oxy and Fent were a thing. She was charged with murder 3 months after the event but 4 years later she pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter. She served 15 months in state prison.
She definitely knew JB beforehand. She admitted to purchasing the components and mixing and injecting the cocktail, for money. She had considerable history of arrest for drug possession.
Most measures would indicate she was more culpable than KL or even Ledra Craig but the new card in the deck is the synthetic opioids. The base components for Fentanyl are fairly easy to acquire and come from factories, most of them overseas and some of which have proven to be complicit in the deadly drug's production in North America. Bringing the chemical to powder or pill form is where the big deviances occur and the potential for inadvertent lethality is first introduced. Pursuing that level is not the same as going after MJ or Cocaine Paste in the old days, its more like a white collar crime at the production level and a
crime at the intermediate portion of the distribution.
I agree with your underlying premise: heavy convictions applied to users or local level dealers is not going to solve the problem overall. Asset seizure may put a dent in the production end of things, but you can't seize a company and seizing a factory is futile, the equipment can readily be acquired. The top level production people will have levels of lawyer and international borders protecting them to some degree so those will be slow detailed prosecutions. The top of distribution chain: that will require a boots on the ground approach as well as extremely strong political resolve. I would predict, a lot of those people will never see a courthouse. So the weak link is the local dealer but there are always people wanting to fill those shoes. Nevertheless, thats who we are going after with these types of prosecutions.
I believe that is fundamentally misguided. We will not be successful getting Fentanyl or Oxycodone off the streets by attacking at the street level. Moreover, as was proved in the 60's and 70's, there will more synthetics to follow as long as there is an illicit market so serve.
Obviously MOO.
