Drug-Induced Homicide

Background

Overdose death rates in the United States have more than doubled over the past decade, surpassing motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of injury-related death in the country.1 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 47,055 people – an average of 128 people a day – died from drug overdoses in 2014.2 More than 18,000 overdose deaths in 2014 involved prescription opioids, such as hydrocodone (Vicodin™) and oxycodone (OxyContin™), while an additional 10,000 fatalities were attributed to heroin.3 Synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, claimed nearly 5,550 lives.4 Policymakers are understandably alarmed at the overdose crisis with which they are now confronted. The public is calling for help and solutions. Elected officials unfamiliar with, or resistant to, harm reduction, prevention, and treatment interventions, however, are introducing punitive, counter-productive legislative measures in a misguided effort to reduce overdose fatalities. In particular, some states, including New York (AB 8616), Ohio (HB 270),..