SOUTH CAROLINA — Some families say a new bill in South Carolina that would hold fentanyl dealers accountable for overdose deaths isn’t strong enough.
The legislation is in the South Carolina House currently, but Channel 9′s Tina Terry spoke with families who say it should be expanded to include other deadly drugs.
“He knew what he was taking, but didn’t know the risk,” said Holly Alsobrooks.
She’s been telling her son’s story for years. Her son, Cody, died after taking just one pill that was laced with fentanyl. It happened in 2020, and since then, she and other parents have gone to Columbia pushing for a bill like this.
House Bill 3591 was in a subcommittee this week, and if passed, it could send fentanyl dealers to prison for up to 30 years for the deaths they cause.
But Alsobrook says the bill is now outdated.
“The fentanyl-induced homicide is not something that we are for. It doesn’t include all drugs, and we know that we have xylazine and many other drugs that people are coming up with now. Our loved one’s tox screens are coming back with multiple drugs,” she told Terry on Thursday.
Lancaster County officials say there were 223 overdoses in 2024 from all opioids, not just fentanyl. Some of them were deadly.
Sixth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman agrees that the bill should include all illegal drugs. He traveled to Columbia to speak out on Wednesday.
“We would suggest a drug-induced homicide bill in that it would cover any drug that’s a controlled substance. It would include fentanyl, but it would also include all these other drugs,” Newman said.
Georgia and North Carolina currently have drug-induced homicide laws. On the phone Thursday, one sponsor of the bill said it may be easier to pass it this session as is and then make changes later.
The bill moves on to the House Judiciary Committee next and would have to pass the full House before going to the Senate. We’ll keep an eye on the bill’s progress this legislative session.
(VIDEO: ‘4th wave’: Overdose deaths for Black, Latin people tripled in Mecklenburg County since 2019)
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