Utah's battle against fentanyl: Legislation targets traffickers

Yahoo

30-01-2025

Emotions ran high during a House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee meeting Wednesday, regarding proposed drug trafficking legislation.
'Over 600 times last year in the state of Utah, someone came home and found their son, daughter or parent deceased from an opioid overdose,' Rep. Matthew Gwynn, R-Farr West, the bill's sponsor, said during his opening remarks. He lost both of his parents to opioid overdoses.
'This is not new or common to Utah. Unfortunately, it's getting worse,' Gwynn said. 'In fact, this year, we're on track to outpace the number of deaths we had last year.'
A nearly 24-year career in law enforcement, Gwynn said so often he's been on the receiving end of a 911 call where an individual was in hysterics after walking in on a loved one who was unresponsive. He said he's made a deal with his children where they cannot call him if they're too upset, because those emergency calls will replay in his head.
The bill, a revised version of HB87, would treat fentanyl traffickers to a higher degree of prosecution than any other drug trafficker. If a person is found with 100 grams in weight or greater of fentanyl or a fentanyl-like substance in the state of Utah, the bill states that the person will be charged with a first-degree felony with prison presumed to follow.
Gwynn acknowledged that each case has its circumstances and judges will maintain their discretion, but 'We have to do something with this particular narcotic,' Gwynn said. 'Fentanyl is the worst of the worst, and so we're going to create a policy that says if you're trafficking the worst of the worst, then you're the worst of the worst. You need to be in prison.'
Last year, the state broke its record for most fentanyl pills seized. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the DEA's Rocky Mountain Field Division had confiscated close to 800,000 as of late July.
The committee passed the first revision of the bill unanimously with favorable recommendations. The bill will be heard next in a Senate committee.
'Unlike the rest of the nation, where fentanyl deaths are declining, that's not holding true for the state of Utah,' Criminal Defense Attorney Mark Moffat said during the meeting where he voiced his support for the bill.
The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner, in a recent press release, reported that fentanyl is now the most common drug in overdose deaths:
Deaths involving fentanyl surged by 1160.9% from 2014 to 2023.
In 2023, there were 290 fentanyl-related deaths, a significant rise from just 23 in 2014.
The number of fentanyl deaths more than doubled between 2019 and 2020 and has continued to climb rapidly since.
The reality is that Utah is not used for traffickers to pass their drugs through, but rather the destination because of the demand here, Gwynn said.
'The problem is it isn't just tablets coming in Utah. The weight of powder coming into Utah is increasing and can be fatal if it goes airborne,' he said. As little as two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal, per the DEA.
Gwynn also warned that carfentanil — an opioid used to tranquilize elephants — is being trafficked into the state, which the DEA also warned is about 100 times stronger than fentanyl, making it deadly at around two milligrams, depending on certain factors.
Jackie Larson, from Spanish Fork, told the Deseret News she lost her sister Crystal last October to carfentanil. Larson said she was so naive in regard to the drug that when she received her sister's belongings, she didn't know what to do.
'I felt like one little grain of it lands in your eyeball, and you're gone,' she said. Larson took the belongings to the police station, where she was told to double glove, take the clothes outside to shake out, and then proceed to put them in the washer.
During her public comments during the meeting Wednesday, Larson said that her sister never stood a chance against the lethal drug.
'If you ask me, I don't think 100 grams is enough' to charge a first-degree felony, she said. Upon learning that her sister had passed away, Larson said her first two calls were to her sister's ex-husband and daughter.
'I don't want someone to go through what I had to go through. What my niece is going through, what my sister went through,' Larson said, urging lawmakers to pass the bill.
Following the unanimous motion to accept the substituted bill, Rep. Mark Strong, R-Bluffdale, and Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, shared their own stories of loved ones whose lives were cut too short by fentanyl-related deaths.
Wilcox emphasized the importance of openness in addressing drug abuse in Utah.
'I think if we're all being honest with ourselves, we all know somebody (affected by drug abuse) at this point,' he said. 'There's a lot of stuff to unpack, but as we have these conversations in our communities, and we're honest with them about what's happening and what we're seeing,' more action will take place to combat the issue.