Virginia Republicans are pushing for legislation that would make it easier to charge drug dealers with murder in cases where their fentanyl sales lead to death, even if they are not physically present at the time of the overdose.
Virginia Republicans announced their top legislative priorities for the new year, with curbing fentanyl deaths chief among them. Under current case law, it is difficult to charge a drug dealer with the murder of a user who died from fentanyl they had purchased unless they are in the proximity of that dealer, according to GOP legislators. State Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-New Kent, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Virginia hopes to address that legislative insufficiency.
'This would say if you sell the drugs, it doesn't matter if you're in physical proximity,' he said. McDougle and Senate Republican Caucus Leader Mark Obenshain are spearheading the effort. Fox News Digital reached out to Obenshain, of Harrisonburg, for additional comment. However, at a related press conference, Obenshain said that as long as people are 'dying in every corner of Virginia, of every socioeconomic background, that means there’s people out there peddling this poison.' A pair of Senate special elections on Tuesday were set to determine whether Republicans will take a slightly belated majority in the chamber this term, as Democrats currently control it by one seat. Voters went to the polls in both Loudoun County and a swath of more red counties, including Buckingham, Fluvanna and Goochland. On Wednesday, multiple outlets projected Democrats will hold their slim single-seat majority – requiring one liberal to side with McDougle and Obenshain on their counter-fentanyl proposal. In 2022, the Old Dominion ranked 14th among states for total fentanyl-related deaths, with 1,973 fatalities, and was positioned near the national average in terms of death rate per capita, according to CDC dat
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