California lawmakers recently tried to take bold action to combat the growing fentanyl crisis by increasing the punishment for drug traffickers and sellers. However, according to an advocate, a bill that would have helped address the issue was “shot down” by the state Assembly’s Public Safety Committee on April 19.
Jaime Puerta, a California resident and president of the advocacy group Victims of Illicit Drugs, told The Epoch Times about the loss of his 16-year-old son, Daniel, to fentanyl—a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine—in 2020, and his disappointment in the committee’s decision.
Puerta described an escalating crisis in California, noting that deaths from fentanyl increased from 239 in 2016 to 3,946 in 2020. In an effort to confront the problem, Democratic California Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 2246 in February.
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