Carroll sheriff, state’s attorney critical of General Assembly for ‘fentanyl failure’  

Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees and State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker are criticizing the Maryland General Assembly for what they consider the legislature’s inaction on fentanyl during this year’s session.

“The Maryland General Assembly failed to pass common-sense legislation to combat drug dealers poisoning people to death with drugs laced with fentanyl,” a joint news release from the Republicans states.

The legislation referenced is Victoria and Scottie’s Law, named for Carroll County residents Victoria Garofolo and Scottie Broadfoot, Jr., both of whom died after using drugs containing fentanyl.

The proposed law would have empowered the Maryland court system to sentence individuals who sold fentanyl or heroin to an individual who dies from or is seriously injured by an overdose, to up to 20 years in prison. The measure would have also offered criminal immunity to those who assist a person in a medical emergency induced by taking heroin or fentanyl.

Sen. Justin Ready and Del. Chris Tomlinson, both Republicans who represent Carroll County, sponsored the legislation. Democratic co-sponsors included Del. Anne R. Kaiser and Del. Lesley J. Lopez, both of Montgomery County; Del. N. Scott Phillips of Baltimore County; and Sen. Joanne C. Benson of Prince George’s County.

“It’s a poisoning,” DeWees said during a March legislative hearing. “These folks did not intend to overdose; they were poisoned to death.”

DeWees and Shoemaker said that charging a fentanyl dealer with anything more than drug distribution is difficult for prosecutors in Maryland, due to state case law.

“Unfortunately, existing Maryland case law makes it exceedingly difficult to hold dealers accountable for the deaths of those like Scottie and Victoria. We determined a legislative fix was needed, so pushers of this poison can be charged with more than mere drug distribution,” they said in the joint news release.

Despite some bipartisan support and favorable testimony from Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a Democrat, the bills, which were filed in the House and Senate, failed to make it out of committee in both chambers.

Critics of the legislation said harsher penalties for drug dealers will do little to reduce the supply and consumption of drugs, and that the legislative focus should be on lessening the demand for the drugs.

“Instead of creating more and longer criminal penalties, we need a bigger and stronger array of positive tools in our work to address substance use disorders, provide better interventions, and reduce the demand for opioids and other drugs,” Ann Ciekot, representing the Maryland Chapter of The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, said March 5, when testifying on the bill.

Statewide last year there were 2,026 fentanyl deaths according to the Maryland Department of Health’s Overdose Data Dashboard, a 989% increase from 2014, the first year for which data is available. Shoemaker confirmed that in Carroll County, fentanyl is overwhelmingly responsible for fatal overdoses.

“Almost 100% of the overdose fatalities that we’ve had, so probably 150 or so over the last three years, has been from fentanyl,” he said during his testimony in a March 5 House Judiciary session. “Nowadays fentanyl is being pressed into pills, it’s sold in powdered form, it’s mixed into every illicit drug, it’s even being put into vape products.”

As of the end of March this year, there have been 12 fentanyl overdoses in Carroll County, three of them fatal, according to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Overdose Investigative Summary Report.

DeWees and Shoemaker said they will ask Tomlinson and Ready to file the same bills again in the 2025 legislative session.

Ready confirmed his intention to refile in an interview last week: “We do plan to introduce the bills next session. We’ll be looking for other sponsors to join us.”