Drug Induced Homicide Defense Toolkit
trafficking on a large scale.257 DIH enforcement doesn't work, and if one of its goals is to reduce overdose deaths, it actually exacerbates the problem.258 A. DIH statutes purport to target major traffickers, but prosecutions target co-users and small-scale sellers Nationwide, legislative history tends to be quite clear: criminal penalties for drug distribution are intended to target traffickers and dealers to stop them from preying on youth and people suffering addiction. Take the example of Massachusetts. In his June 1980 letter to the legislature submitting “An Act Providing Mandatory Terms of Imprisonment for Major Drug Traffickers…”—which became the drug distribution statute currently enforced—then-Governor Edward King clearly identified the purpose and targets of the bill: The time has come to launch a new, more aggressive campaign against those who operate and profit from the death-dealing traffic in drugs. They should be the principal focus of law enforcement activities at the state and local level. We need major changes in the way our criminal system deals with these dealers in drugs.259 257
See LaSalle, An Overdose Death at 39.
258
This section is essentially an updated version of arguments made by the Health in Justice Action Lab and our co-author Lisa Newman-Polk in our amicus curiae brief in the case of Commonwealth v. Carrillo (2019), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3497098. For alternative rhetorical approaches, see our amicus curiae brief in U.S. v. Semler (coauthored with Scott Burris), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3717117, and our sentencing memorandum in U.S. v. Cook, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3717131. Please note that these latter two briefs do not raise race-based disparities because the defendants were white, and we did not want to inadvertently encourage the courts to attempt to level racial disparities in DIH enforcement by giving these defendants extra harsh sentences. 259
See Commonwealth v. Jackson, 464 Mass. 758 (2013), quoting 1980 House Doc. 6652, at 1 (emphasis added by the Court).
Version Date July 2021 – Check https://ssrn.com/abstract=3265510 for most current edition
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