Ignoring reason and compassion makes for bad policy: RI House passes Kristen’s Law
The bill (2018-H 7715Aaa), which now goes to the Senate, specifies that any person convicted of unlawfully selling illicit substances that result in a person’s death shall be sentenced to up to life in prison.
Violating the tenets of both reason and compassion, the Rhode Island House of Representatives approved Kristen’s Law on Thursday, a bill sponsored by Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (Democrat, District 15, Cranston) to strengthen penalties for dealers who sell fatal drug doses. Governor Gina Raimondo has indicated that she is inclined to sign Kristen’s Law if it passes, despite the opposition of her Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force’s expert advisor, Dr Jodi Rich … “It sounds very simple. People are using. People are selling other people these toxic, dangerous fentanyl-like compounds, and those people are taking them and not expecting to, but dying. So why don’t we just make that illegal, and make the penalties so severe that people will not do that and then the problem will go away? It sounds simple,” said Dr Jody Rich, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and expert advisor to Governor Gina Raimondo‘s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force. “Unfortunately, it’s just not simple.” … “I’m with the rest of the people up here it terms of understanding that the bill as written is not the bill we need,” said Dr Michael Fine, family medicine doctor and former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). “We need to be thinking about how to value the lives of all Rhode Islanders…”
Original Article (Human Rights Watch):
Ignoring reason and compassion makes for bad policy: RI House passes Kristen’s Law
Artwork Fair Use: jimmyweee
