Lawmakers propose bill that targets drug dealers
Legislation aims at sellers of heroin, fentanyl
Taneytown resident Scott Broadfoot Sr., wearing a shirt with a picture of his 21-year-old son, Scottie, told the emotionally wrenching story of Scottie’s death by fentanyl overdose in 2019, Tuesday afternoon in the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis.
“Scottie was deeply loved and will be forever missed, and will never be forgotten. There is now a void in our hearts that will never be filled,” Broadfoot said.
Broadfoot, 50, was speaking in support of a proposed law that would empower 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 also offer criminal immunity to those who assist a person in a medical emergency induced by taking heroin or fentanyl.
The proposed bills are sponsored by Sen. Justin Ready and Del. Chris Tomlinson, both Republicans
who represent Carroll County. The legislators held a news conference Tuesday to introduce the bills. Carroll County State’s Attorney Haven Shoemaker, Sheriff Jim DeWees and about a dozen bill supporters, including police officers and people holding signs to recognize those lost to fentanyl and heroin, also attended.
“This bill is about empowering our state’s attorney and our criminal justice system to be able to do their job in prosecuting people who are selling this poison on our streets,” Ready said. “It’s commonsense legislation, very targeted, has broad bipartisan support. We have a bipartisan group of co-sponsors. This is not a partisan issue.”
Democratic co-sponsors include 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.
Drug dealers whose products result in a drug user’s death may face gross negligence and involuntary manslaughter charges, but DeWees said it is difficult for prosecutors to pursue those charges, allowing those who peddle deadly drugs to remain on the streets.
Cross-filed House Bill 1245 and Senate Bill 1075 are also known as Victoria and Scottie’s Law, after two young adults who lived in Carroll County before they lost their lives to drug overdoses.
Victoria Garofolo was an 18-year-old Hampstead resident and recent graduate of Manchester Valley High School who was found dead in 2022 after taking drugs laced with fentanyl. Tomlinson said she died with her clothes for work the next day laid out on her bed.
“This was not somebody who wanted to depart this world,” Tomlinson said. “This is somebody who made some bad choices, but this was not somebody who was suicidal. This is somebody who had a life and wanted to continue living.”
About 40 to 50 people die from overdoses each year in Carroll County, Shoemaker said.
“We need a legislative fix,” Shoemaker said. “We need another tool to go after dealers in a very serious way. My prayer is that we that we do this for Scottie and Victoria, and the thousands like them across the State of Maryland who’ve been lost due to a drug, particularly fentanyl, overdose.”
Twenty-four states have similar laws in place, according to the lawmakers.
Scottie Broadfoot was found dead after he bought $20 of cocaine laced with two different types of fentanyl, his father said, adding that the person who sold Scottie the drugs has been arrested several times in connection with fentanyl possession and distribution, but is not currently incarcerated.
“I do know with Victoria and Scottie’s Law in place, this dealer would be in jail and not be able to harm anyone else’s loved ones,” Broadfoot said.
April Babcock, founder of advocacy group Lost Voices of Fentanyl, shared the story of losing her son, Austen, to an overdose in 2019 when he was 25.
“We have a crisis in Maryland,” Babcock said, “we need laws. Why are drug dealers getting away with murder? Sell drugs, kill Americans, go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go.”
Victoria and Scottie’s Law includes language specifying that goods or services must be exchanged for a suspect to be considered a drug distributor.
“We’re targeting the dealers, we’re targeting the people who are supplying this,” Ready said. “We’re not targeting those who are addicted, who need treatment and support. We’re targeting the drug dealers, who are essentially committing murder with what they’re doing.”
A similar law was proposed in 2015 by thenDel. Kathleen Dumais, a Democrat who now serves as a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge, Tomlinson said. That legislation aimed to charge fentanyl traffickers with homicide; it was ultimately withdrawn.
“The (currently proposed) bill is designed to go after drug dealers who are selling the worst of the worst to our loved ones,” Tomlinson said, “not addicts who need treatment. I believe that we have structured this bill to cover just about everything that I think is very important when it comes to the subject matter.”
Tomlinson said passing the law would be a step in the right direction toward ending the opioid epidemic.
“It’s time that we go after the supply,” Shoemaker said, “and when I say supply, I mean it’s time to go after the dealers.”