Drug dealers ‘should be charged with murder’ in fatal overdose cases, says dad of man who died

Dealers who peddle drugs that kill should be locked up for murder, according to the father of a man who died from an overdose.

Dean Palozej’s son Spencer Palozej died after taking fentanyl-laced pills on February 1, 2018 – one day before his 30th birthday.

Dean said: ‘If they’re dealing fentanyl… they’re just pumping poison out into the streets.

‘I’d like to see these guys on a first offense get three to five years. The second offense, charge them with murder. This is going on way too much. People are dying.’

And a state representative who heard his story has also backed the campaign. 

Dean Palozej’s son Spencer died of a fentanyl overdose in last year, just one day before his 30th birthday. His father supports a proposed state law that would create a new murder charge for people who supply drugs that cause fatal overdoses

Spencer had been in frequent pain from injuries and surgeries, and would occasionally buy oxycodone pills from an acquaintance.

But he received fentanyl-laced pills in his last purchase, and died at at his home in Manchester, Connecticut. No arrests have been made. 

Rep. Kurt Vail introduced a piece of legislation this year, joining other lawmakers around the country in a push for murder or manslaughter charges against people who supply drugs that cause fatal overdoses.

The push is part of efforts to curb the opioid overdose crisis. 

Lawmakers in Connecticut, Hawaii, Mississippi and Virginia have proposed murder and manslaughter charges for overdoses this year. 

Several states passed such laws over the past two years, while others have taken to charging drug deaths under murder and manslaughter statutes that don’t specifically mention overdoses.

Twenty states now have so-called ‘drug-induced homicide’ laws that carry the same sentences as murder and manslaughter, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit drug policy organization based in New York.

Connecticut state Rep. Kurt Vail is pushing for murder or manslaughter charges against people who supply drugs that cause fatal overdoses

Federal law has included a penalty of 20 years to life in prison for providing drugs that cause fatal overdoses since Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, spurred by the cocaine overdose death of basketball star Len Bias that year.

There is a debate, however, about whether such laws are good policy. Supporters say the laws are needed to properly punish and deter dealers and others who supply drugs that kill. 

Opponents argue those laws are not a deterrent, discourage people from calling 911 for help for overdose victims and help fuel higher arrest rates of minorities.

Lindsay LaSalle, director of public health law and policy for the Drug Policy Alliance said: ‘Supply-side tactics really haven’t been proven to work over the past five decades they’ve been implemented.

‘I think the focus needs to be on the demand.’

Spencer Palozej, left, with his father Dean. The dad has joined lawmakers around the country who have been pushing for murder or manslaughter charges to be introduced for drug dealers. No arrests have been made more than a year after Spencer’s death

Spencer had been in frequent pain from injuries and surgeries, and would occasionally buy pills from an acquaintance. In this undated photo, Spencer poses with his dog after hunting in Connecticut

Statistics on murder, manslaughter and homicide prosecutions involving overdoses are not widely available because few state and local government agencies keep track. 

But from 2011 to 2016, the number of news stories about people charged with or prosecuted for drug-induced homicides increased from 363 to 1,178 – more than a 300 percent increase that corresponds with the rise of opioid-related deaths, according to the alliance.

What is fentanyl and why is it so dangerous?

 

Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. 

Given its extreme potency it has become popular amongst recreational drug users. 

Overdose deaths linked to synthetic opioids like fentanyl jumped from nearly 10,000 in 2015 to nearly 20,000 in 2016 – surpassing common opioid painkillers and heroin for the first time. 

And drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the US in 2017 – a record driven by fentanyl. 

It is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects biologically identical. But it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to officials in the US. 

In America, fentanyl is classified as a schedule II drug – indicating it has a strong potential to be abused and can create psychological and physical dependence. 

Around 47,600 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2017, a 13 percent increase compared with 2016 and more than 2½ times as many as the 18,515 opioid deaths in 2007, federal data shows. 

The rise of the highly potent fentanyl is the reason, law enforcement officials say.

Connecticut state Rep. Vail, a Republican who represents Dean Palozej’s hometown of Stafford, introduced the proposed law in their state in January after talking with Dean after Spencer’s death. 

The law would make it murder to supply drugs that cause a fatal overdose, and conviction would bring a prison sentence of up to 60 years.

Vail, a former correctional officer, said: ‘I think it was kind of time to up the punishment and make it more of a deterrent to deal to these people that are using opioids.

‘Those people who are taking advantage of these people who are addicted, they are scumbags.’

A similar bill proposed by Vail in 2017, in response to increasing overdose deaths in his district, died in committee.

Legislation treating overdoses as murder or manslaughter also was introduced this year in Hawaii, Mississippi and Virginia. The Mississippi bill died in committee, while the others remain pending.

Police have not made an arrest in connection with Spencer Palozej’s death but have been keeping tabs on a suspect, Dean Palozej said. 

He said that shortly before his death, Spencer texted the suspect to bring him ‘just the regular.’

Manchester Detective Lt. John Rossetti, whose department has been investigating Spencer’s death, said it often is difficult to charge someone who supplies drugs that cause an overdose. 

He said the main obstacles are finding the dealers, catching them with drugs and proving those drugs are the same ones that killed the overdose victims. He declined to comment on the Spencer Palozej investigation.

Dean is upset that no arrests have been made more than a year after his son’s death.

He said: ‘We cry everyday all of us. It truly broke all our hearts.

‘We have to get some laws in place that lock these guys up.’

Spencer had bought the pills after suffering from pain, and died at his home a day before his 30th birthday. Pictured are fentanyl-laced pills mimicking the prescription drug oxycodone (file image)