Drug Dealers selling Fentanyl resulting in death can receive additional Class 6 Felony Charge.

 # 198 Persistent Legislature and Governor Prevail after 7 years.  Drug Dealers who sell products containing Fentanyl, from which death(s) occur now face harsher sentences when convicted.

About seven years ago, I was poised to post an opinion piece because I thought I had a brilliant idea: drug dealers of Fentanyl have proximate-cause in resulting Fentanyl deaths. Something checked me and I said to myself:”What if some Virginia Representative has already had the same brilliant idea?” I decided to check-out bills in the Virginia Legislature and I spared myself embarrassment. I found that a State Representative from Fauquier County had already submitted such a bill and it was voted out of Committee. I looked farther and learned an ugly secret that did not exist in 1986 when “5 years, mandatory-minimum for use of a firearm in the commission of a Felony” became law. The ugly secret was that, by 2017/18, any law that could result in longer sentences that came out of committee and would result in additional jail-time, had to go to the Finance Committee. I learned, 7 or 8 years ago, that a smart bill that would keep Felons off the streets for a longer period of time could die in the Finance Committee.

Today, I learned that a similar Bill finally passed & was signed into law on June 13, 2025 by a Law & Order Governor Youngkin. The penalty is for a Class 6 Felony. As one reads the Legislative history, the Senate voted against the Bill, before the Governor signed it into Law. The Law takes effect on July 1, 2025.

The press release is below. It includes a hyperlink explaining the bill and displaying the Legislative History.

https://www.wdbj7.com/2025/06/13/governor-youngkin-signs-bill-prosecute-fentanyl-dealers-overdose-deaths/