The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2024, does not differentiate between those using and those selling the drug, and it doesn’t require prosecutors to find evidence of trafficking. Instead, prosecutors can charge people with fentanyl trafficking if they possess at least 4 grams or 100 pills that contain fentanyl. InvestigateWest reviewed court records for all fentanyl trafficking charges filed through June 30 of this year. Among the 90 cases that included arrest reports, one-third of them lacked evidence such as scales, ledgers and small bags, which when found together are commonly considered proof that someone sold or intended to sell drugs. But court records show those people were charged with trafficking and face the law’s mandatory minimum prison terms based on the amount of fentanyl police said they had.
A sheriff deputy in western Idaho’s Nez Perce County arrested a man for drug possession after he dropped a bag of blue pills that the deputy identified as fentanyl on the floor of a casino, according to the police report. After counting 111 pills, “I changed the charge from possession, to trafficking Fentanyl,” the deputy wrote in the report.
One county north, Isaac Berger was charged with fentanyl trafficking by the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office after an emergency room nurse who was treating him for an overdose reported Berger to police. Less than three months later, Berger died of fentanyl poisoning. The detective who investigated Berger's death said there was no evidence that he was planning to sell or distribute the drugs, which Berger’s mother brought to the hospital in an effort to help healthcare workers save her son.
Prosecutors who supported the law during legislative debates continue to defend it, saying it deters drug dealers from bringing fentanyl into the state, though none provided evidence to support the claim.
An Idaho law targeted fentanyl dealers. Prosecutors are using it to charge users, too
(www.investigatewest.org)
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