Drug-induced homicide laws won't end overdose deaths. Texans need public health tools NOW.
Gov Abbott, Lt. Gov Patrick, and Speaker Phelan
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On March 15th, the Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill charging the manufacturing or delivering of fentanyl as murder, if someone dies from an overdose. The measure–authored by Senator Joan Huffman and supported by Governor Abbott, marks the beginnings of an even darker era in the War on Drugs in Texas.
Senate Bill 645 will do nothing to reduce overdoses—it will perpetuate racial injustice and exacerbate the harms of the drug war. Texans are already afraid to call 911 when there’s an overdose, for fear of arrest or prosecution, and this will only increase that fear. People who are incarcerated can’t access treatment and face disproportionately higher risk to overdose. The list of harms is endless.
But Senate Bill 645 is not the only obstacle we face to end overdose in Texas. This session, legislators are refusing to treat substance use like the public health issue that it is. While legislators insist on debating whether basic tools like fentanyl test strips “enable” drug use, record numbers of Texans are dying of overdose. Meanwhile, Texas lags behind 38 other states–including Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky–that have gone beyond fentanyl test strips and naloxone, by authorizing harm reduction programs.
To end the overdose crisis, Texas must abandon dangerous proposals like Senate Bill 645, and invest in evidence-based public health interventions. Join us in opposing Senate Bill 645 and call on Governor Abbott and the Texas legislature to authorize comprehensive harm reduction centers (HB 1403) and drug checking tools (HB 224, HB 987, HB 1365, SB 623, SB 868).Sponsored by
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To:
Gov Abbott, Lt. Gov Patrick, and Speaker Phelan
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Speaker Phelan:
As Texas faces the surging overdose crisis, we urge you to abandon support for bills that increase criminalization—like Senate Bill 645, which charges the manufacturing or delivering of fentanyl as murder, if someone dies from an overdose—and instead look to public health strategies that are proven to save lives, reduce infectious disease, and connect people to care.
More than 5,000 Texans are dying of overdose each year, yet Texan lawmakers continue to block or ignore evidence-based public health interventions that could save and improve countless lives. Our state still lags behind 38 other states–including Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky–that have gone beyond fentanyl test strips and naloxone, by authorizing harm reduction programs.
Senate Bill 645 will do nothing to reduce overdoses—it will perpetuate racial injustice and exacerbate the harms of the drug war. Texans are already afraid to call 911 when there’s an overdose, for fear of arrest or prosecution, and this will only increase that fear. People who are incarcerated can’t access treatment and face disproportionately higher risk to overdose. The list of harms is endless.
To save lives in Texas, we implore you to abandon dangerous proposals like Senate Bill 645 that increase criminalization, and instead authorize comprehensive harm reduction centers (HB 1403) and drug checking tools (HB 224, HB 987, HB 1365, SB 623, SB 868).