Senate Bill S7657

                                BILL NUMBER:S7657

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the penal law, in relation to homicide
by sale of an opiate controlled substance

PURPOSE:  This bill would criminalize the sale of an opiate controlled
substance when the unlawful transport or unlawful sale of an opiate
controlled substance causes the death of another.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 220.00 of the penal law by adding new
paragraph 21 that defines the term "opiate controlled substance" as a
controlled substance that is further classified under Public Health
Law as an opiate or opium derivative.

Section 2 amends the penal law to add new section 125.24, to create
the new crime of homicide by sale of an opiate controlled substance, a
class A-I felony, that is committed when one unlawfully imports into
the state or transports from one county to another within the state,
an opiate controlled substance and such causes the death of another.
This section also creates a defense to the crime when the defendant
jointly and simultaneously acquired and possessed such opiate
controlled substance for joint use with the deceased, with intent to
jointly inject, inhale or otherwise ingest.

              

Section 3 establishes the effective date as the ninetieth day after it
becomes law.

JUSTIFICATION:  Heroin use is steadily on the rise. Its impact now
reaches every aspect of our society regardless of income, education or
genders. The increasing-availability of this drug combined with more
powerful incarnations is creating an epidemic that is having a
dramatic impact across the state and leading to the unfortunate deaths
of too many New Yorkers. Currently, a person who provides an illicit
drug that results in the death of a user can typically only be charged
with criminal-sale of a controlled-substance, allowing those involved
in the illicit-drug trade to escape prosecution for the deaths caused
by their actions.

This law would hold drug dealers accountable for the true cost of
their activities, significantly diminish the open availability of
these dangerous drugs on our streets and give district attorneys-the
necessary tools to work up the criminal chain to the ultimate supplier
because facing life imprisonment for any amount of drugs that results
in death is a profound disincentive to sell drugs within the state of
New York.

This law seeks to punish those individuals involved in the illegal
drug trade and is not intended to punish those individuals who are
merely co-users. Therefore a co-user who shares the drugs with the
victim still has an incentive to follow the current good Samaritan law
and save the other person as he or she will be able to avoid
prosecution for homicide by sale of an opiate controlled substance and
instead admit to a lower felony because it still is a distribution.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None.


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect 90 days after it becomes
law.