Purple Politics Nevada is KUNR’s weekly show about the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session. In this week’s episode, host Lucia Starbuck speaks with Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford about the dangers of fentanyl, why he wants to increase punishments for trafficking the opioid, and his response to the concerns regarding overcriminalization.
Click here for a transcript of the audio story.
Episode Overview
There has been a surge in opioid overdose deaths across the country and locally. In Washoe County in 2021, there were 135 opioid-related deaths. More than half involved fentanyl.
Two Republican-backed bills to increase punishments for trafficking fentanyl failed, but two Democratic bills are still in play during the 2023 legislative session, including one by Attorney General Aaron Ford.
“These illicitly manufactured fentanyl, whether they be pills or powders, are dangerous drugs, and they are killing people,” Ford said. “This is an issue that has to be addressed both from a public health perspective, but also from a public safety perspective. It’s my job as a top law enforcement officer in the state to do just that.”
Two milligrams of fentanyl, roughly the size of a common mosquito, can be deadly. Under current Nevada law, if a person sells 100 to 400 grams of a Schedule I or II controlled substance, it is considered low-level trafficking. Ford’s legislation, Senate Bill 35, works in tandem with SB 343 by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro to increase punishment by lowering the amount of fentanyl to four to 14 grams for low-level trafficking, 14 to 28 grams for mid-level, and anything above 28 grams as high-level trafficking.
Advocates with the ACLU of Nevada and the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office have voiced strong opposition to the bills. There are concerns the legislation will lead to the over-criminalization of people who unknowingly purchase substances with fentanyl, such as someone struggling with substance use.
Additionally, according to the National Institute of Justice, increasing the severity of a punishment doesn’t always prevent crime, because criminals aren’t aware of the legal sanctions.
“I think there are several ways to address this issue,” Ford said. “Just because everyone doesn’t obey the law doesn’t mean you don’t have laws. You have stop signs that people run, and when they run those stop signs, they are punished.”
Some solutions include treatment programs in jails, but that takes time, money and resources to implement. Ford said he’d be interested in seeing some of the hundreds of millions of dollars the state is receiving from opioid settlements go toward setting up medication-assisted treatment.
Listen to this week’s episode of Purple Politics Nevada with Lucia Starbuck on how Ford is hoping to address fentanyl.
Transcript
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC BEGINS)
LUCIA STARBUCK, HOST: Welcome to this week’s episode of Purple Politics Nevada. I’m your host, Lucia Starbuck. The name reflects the fact that Nevada isn’t red or blue — it’s both.
There has been a surge in opioid overdose deaths across the country and locally. In Washoe County in 2021, there were 135 opioid-related deaths. More than half involved fentanyl.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC ENDS)
Two Republican-backed bills to increase punishments for trafficking fentanyl failed, but two Democratic bills are still in play this session, including one by Attorney General Aaron Ford. I spoke with him to learn more.
STARBUCK: Attorney General Ford, one large issue you are looking to tackle this session is fentanyl. How have these overdoses impacted Nevada communities?
AARON FORD: These illicitly manufactured fentanyl, whether they be pills or powders, are dangerous drugs, and they are killing people. This is an issue that has to be addressed both from a public health perspective, but also from a public safety perspective. And it’s my job as a top law enforcement officer in the state to endeavor to do just that.
STARBUCK: Why is fentanyl so dangerous?
FORD: The amount of fentanyl needed to cause death: two milligrams. When you compare, for example, the current statute, which says a hundred grams of any substance, is what has to be required to constitute trafficking at a certain level, a hundred grams of cocaine is not the same thing as a hundred grams of fentanyl.
STARBUCK: There are two bills to increase the punishments for trafficking fentanyl by you and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro.
FORD: Those bills taken in tandem would establish low-level, mid-level and high-level trafficking. Senator Cannizzaro’s bill says that if you are found with anywhere between four grams and 14 grams of fentanyl-laced product, you can be charged with low-level trafficking. My bill, right now, begins at 14 grams and goes to 28 for mid-level trafficking. And from 28 grams and above would constitute high-level trafficking.
STARBUCK: One provision of your bill would require treatment programs in jails when funding is available. A sergeant with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said medication-assisted treatment is available in their facility, but he mentioned it took time, money, resources and that might be difficult for smaller agencies. How can these treatment programs be available in jails across the state?
FORD: I will say this, while I cannot mandate, for example, ways in which the opioid settlement funds that we have recovered for this state, to date, totaling $606 million, I can’t mandate how those monies will be used. It seems to me that there are opportunities to use those for the exact purpose that we recovered them, which is to help abate the problem. There are monies available in my estimation, at least, that can be utilized toward that. But there are also grant programs that are available. I don’t disagree that there will be a timeframe needed to institute a fully complemented program, including trying to find personnel to administer the program.
STARBUCK: There’s a budget surplus. Why not ask money, this session, for the programs?
FORD: Well, that’s not my decision to make. I’ll leave that to the decision-makers in the legislative building and in the governor’s office.
STARBUCK: How will you make sure your legislation doesn’t lead to criminalization of people who unknowingly buy substances with fentanyl, maybe someone struggling with substance use, a young person buys laced drugs at a concert?
FORD: I am not trying to recreate the war on drugs. We saw what happened with the crackdown on crack and not providing services and instead utilizing prisons as rehabilitation centers. That is not what this bill is intended to do. And, like I said, my bill starts at 14. I have been told from certain members of the recovery community that a person who has somewhere between four to 14 grams may very well have that for personal use, but if you have 14 grams of something that contains fentanyl, it’s highly unlikely that’s personal use, you intend to traffic in that.
STARBUCK: Nevada’s current testing capabilities can only show us that fentanyl is present but not the actual amount. How might this affect law enforcement’s ability to detect the weight of fentanyl?
FORD: The current state of the law for every other controlled substance operates in the exact same fashion: qualitative assessment. Is there a presence of cocaine, a presence of another illicit drug? And if so, the weight of the compound found is attributed to being cocaine. It’s not the most precise, to be sure. And when presented to me this idea of converting our system from being qualitative to quantitative, I jumped at the opportunity to look into this, but you can’t just jump right to it. And what I’m contemplating, and I hope that we’re able to accomplish if we pass this bill, is including a study that will look at what is required for us to make that transition.
STARBUCK: What if a lower-schedule substance is cut with fentanyl?
FORD: Same thing that happens with cocaine right now. Cocaine may be cut with baby powder, but if there’s a trace of cocaine, it’s gonna be charged as cocaine. If they find an amount of fentanyl that is sufficient to satisfy the trafficking statute, more than likely it’s gonna be a trafficking charge for fentanyl.
STARBUCK: The National Institute of Justice says increasing the severity of punishment doesn’t always deter crime because criminals aren’t caught up on legal sanctions, so why tackle fentanyl in this way?
FORD: Well, I think there are several ways to address this issue. Just because everyone doesn’t obey the law doesn’t mean you don’t have laws. You have stop signs that people run, and when they run those stop signs, they are punished.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC BEGINS)
STARBUCK: That was Nevada Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford. I’m Lucia Starbuck, and you’ve been listening to Purple Politics Nevada.
(UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC ENDS)
The theme song, “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, is licensed under Creative Commons and was edited for this episode.
