Originally published at mamapundit.com on September 9, 2010
Since Henry died, many people have asked me whether it’s possible for the adults who gave him the drugs he ingested in the last 24 hours of his life, and who refused (not failed, but REFUSED) to call for help to be prosecuted. After talking to prosecutors in various jurisdictions and reading a lot of material in recent weeks, I can now answer that question affirmatively.
Yes, it is completely possible to prosecute individuals for controlled substance homicide. It happens all over the country, every year. There are several approaches available to prosecutors in moving such a case forward. One is to utilize available state statutes (in Tennessee, it appears to me that this would be second degree murder) and the other is via the federal Len Bias Law, a statute designed for the specific purpose of giving prosecutors a tool in their toolbox to deal with drug dealers whose wares kill people.
Admittedly, these are not easy cases to bring. They are messy, complicated and challenging for even very talented investigators and prosecutors. But more and more passionate, dedicated criminal investigators and prosecutors are MAKING THE EFFORT to pursue these cases. Those efforts are reflected in the rapidly growing list of successful arrests and prosecutions all over the country (I really encourage you to check out the link to read about some of these cases) for some version of “controlled substance homicide.” Sadly, here in Knox County, where I live, law enforcement and the DA’s office are behind the curve within their own professions with regard to cases like this. They seemingly have no interest, despite the fact that overdoses are killing and maiming more Knox County citizens than ANY OTHER cause that falls within their purview, including guns.
Here in Tennessee, we are dealing with an epidemic – a true epidemic – of drug overdose deaths. In fact, between 2003 through 2007, there was a 62% increase in the number of accidental overdose deaths of Tennessee residents. In 2007, there were 750 deaths. (Source: Tennessee Department of Health) When we begin actively investigating the circumstances around how so many people are dying from drug overdoses in our communities, we will have more and better opportunities to identify the sources of the drugs. When we prosecute drug dealers whose dealing kills people, we will have fewer drug dealers selling to our kids, neighbors and coworkers. We can’t just continue to ignore the rising death toll from drug overdoses. Yes, we need better treatment options for addicts. I support drug courts that allow treatment diversion programs. We need to educate ourselves and our kids better (I know I was completely ignorant about the overdose epidemic before it took my own child). All of these pieces are important. But law enforcement and the legal system also have important roles to play.
Our family has been told by a local prosecutor that “usually, we don’t even investigate overdoses.” I appreciated the prosecutor’s candor, but I don’t agree with this position on the part of local authorities. The FBI and DEA recommend that local jurisdictions begin treating all overdose injuries and deaths as the potential crimes that they are. In the case of my son, the circumstances in which he was found near death from a drug overdose were particularly fishy; yet, the residence where he was found was not treated as a potential crime scene, and the people who were with him when paramedics arrived were given only cursory interrogation by law enforcement. The story they told about what had happened in the hours preceding paramedics’ arrival made virtually no sense, but our family was told by authorities that these people were obviously just a couple of “good samaritans” who had simply reached out to help our troubled teenager.
Ummm….no.
Some might argue that drug dealers should not be prosecuted because their victims willingly ingested or injected the drugs that caused the overdose. But this is like saying that it’s okay to shoot someone in the head as long as that person begged the shooter to do it. And I understand that failure to render aid is not in and of itself a criminal act, but when you put this failure in the larger context of a drug deal that results in an overdose in a private residence, you end up with something quite different than just a simple failure to render aid situation. You end up with some level of homicide or at least manslaughter.
I also want to reiterate that I am fully aware that my son was trading drugs and selling drugs in the last period of his life in order to support his own habit. And as painful as it would have been for all of us, if Henry’s illegal activity had provably caused another person’s death, we would have wanted to see him arrested and prosecuted for this crime.
But that’s not what happened. Instead my drug-addicted teenager died of a terrible brain injury, after a miserably cruel 5 week hospitalization. I believe that if Henry had not died at age 18, we would have ultimately been successful in helping him to kick the drugs and get his life back on track. I know for a fact that that’s what he wanted. But we won’t get the chance to do that. He won’t get the chance to do that. And I want to do everything I can to make sure that no one else suffers the same fate as my child via the same source of dangerous, illegal drugs in our community that took his beautiful mind and then his life.
I believe that drug overdoses should be investigated as potential crimes, and that dealers whose actions meet the elements outlined in the criminal statutes available to local and federal prosecutors should be charged and brought to trial – held accountable. I hope that others in our community will agree with me and help me work for change in this regard.
