Ohio lawmakers propose tougher laws on fentanyl use

By Marc Kovac | January 28, 2016 at 12:02a.m.

COLUMBUS

Legislation being considered in the Ohio Senate would increase criminal penalties for the possession and sale of a powerful opioid that is being added to heroin.

Senate Bill 237 focuses on fentanyl, which is sold under the prescription names Actiq, Duragesic and Sublimaze and which has been linked to increasing overdose deaths in the state.

Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Copley, said the law changes were proposed by prosecutors in Wayne County.

“This is part of our ongoing response to the issue that we’re dealing with in this state as it relates to opiate abuse,” LaRose told the Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday. “If abuse of opioids is deadly, and it is, then when that is mixed with a product called fentanyl, it’s even worse. This is something that has begun to show up in our communities throughout the state and has deadly results.”

Statistics released by the Ohio Department of Health last year noted nearly 2,500 overdose deaths in 2014, up 18 percent from the previous year.

Officials said increasing fentanyl use played a role in the results, accounting for more than 500 drug-poisoning deaths in 2014, versus fewer than 100 in 2012 and 2013.

Gov. John Kasich voiced concern about fentanyl during a year-end speech in Columbus last month.

“We’ve got this unbelievable drug called fentanyl, which we have experienced here as the tip of the spear and it’s spreading across the country,” he said. LaRose said fentanyl, a drug typically used in anesthesia to treat patients with extreme pain or to manage pain after surgery, is 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin.

SB 237 would reduce the volume of fentanyl required to constitute a “bulk amount” under the state’s drug offense laws, effectively enabling increased criminal penalties for those who are selling batches the drug illegally or mixing it with other drugs.