BUFFALO, N.Y. — Officials across the state gathered Wednesday to announce their support for bipartisan legislation that seeks to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic across the state and the nation.
Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Keane was joined by Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and Erie County Sheriff John Garcia to discuss the ongoing problem and how they’re seeking to attack it from all angles.
Their support of three bills would address the crisis from the dealer to the substance itself and even after it’s too late.
The first bill they endorsed is called Chelsea’s Law. It gives power to state prosecutors allowing them to charge a dealer with manslaughter if their drugs kill the buyer. That power is currently only possible at the federal level.
The second has to do with a drug call xylazine — more commonly known as tranq. The drug is a tranquilizer used for large animals like horses and cows, but dealers are cutting it into their drugs because of its highly addictive nature.
Since its true purpose is to be used on animals, it’s not classified as a controlled substance, and therefore deals can’t be prosecuted for it. A new bill would add xylazine to the controlled substance list.
Finally, the third bill addresses support for families. Currently, families of overdose victims are not eligible to receive funds from the Office of Victim Services because an overdose is not considered a homicide. Officials want to change that with this bill and allow those families to still receive financial support.
While these three bills require support from lawmakers, officials say they have nothing to do with democrats or republicans.
“This is not a political situation where it really needs to lobby one side or the other,” Garcia said. “Everybody's on board because at the end of the day, this is about taking care of our people, our public.”
All of these bills failed to pass this past legislative session, but officials say they believe that’s the case because they just haven’t received enough spotlight. They are hopeful they will pass next session.