SACRAMENTO, Calif. — How to handle the growing fentanyl crisis in California has become one of the most contentious topics for lawmakers in the State Capitol.

While lawmakers all agree on the need to address fentanyl, when it comes to enacting legislation, there has been a rift in what approach to take despite Democrats having a supermajority.

The debate comes down to how to approach the public safety side of the crisis. Members of both the Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees have been hesitant to pass legislation that would increase criminal penalties for fentanyl.

At a recent Senate Public Safety Committee meeting, the committee rejected SB 44 or “Alexandra’s Law,” which would have provided a written notice for people convicted on drug charges that they could face future murder charges if someone dies from the drugs they provide.

Senator Scott Weiner explained how he feared creating stricter penalties could have unintended consequences.

“In order for that legally consequential, serious step to happen, that you should at least have known or should have known that there was fentanyl in what you were selling,” Wiener said.

Co-author of SB 44 and other fentanyl-related legislation, Republican State Senator Janet Nguyen joined “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen to discuss the rising crisis and what the legislature can do to prevent future deaths.

“We’re literally watching a generation disappear,” Nguyen said.

A mother of two young children, Nguyen says fentanyl dealers are designing fentanyl pills to look like candy to appeal to younger people.

“No parents want to see their children pass away before them. We need to stop this; this is a crisis,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen authored SB 62, which would have enhanced punishments for people who possess 2.2 pounds of fentanyl, which is about 10,000 pills. The senator said anyone with that amount of fentanyl wouldn’t target users but sellers of the deadly drug.

“There’s no way you can mistake someone carrying 10,000 pills to be a user,” Nguyen said. “That’s all we’re asking for is putting these drug dealers away. They are literally killing people.”

The Senate Public Safety Committee rejected SB 62. Critics of enhancing penalties for fentanyl are concerned about implementing policies that echo the war on drugs polices of the past that weren’t effective in stopping drug use and disproportionately targeted people of color through mass incarceration.

“If you’re carrying 10,000 pills, that’s not a user. So you can’t say this is a war on drugs. This is a war on saving our children from dying,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen says the Senate Republican Caucus has discussed using ballot measures to circumvent the Public Safety Committees from blocking fentanyl legislation.

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