Ohio Senate gets bill to increase penalties for drug, human trafficking

Stronger fentanyl-related drug trafficking penalties and a requirement to teach high school students the dangers of fentanyl now wait on the Ohio Senate to move closer to becoming law.

House Bill 322, which recently passed the House with an 80-13 vote but has yet to be introduced in the Senate, is a direct response to both drug and human trafficking, according to sponsor Rep. Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison.

Abrams said that since the bill was introduced in late June, about 3,624 Ohioans and 57,380 Americans have died of fentanyl poisoning, according to numbers provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The crisis our state and our country are facing is catastrophic,” Abrams said. “House Bill 230 will save lives. It is what Ohio needs to combat the drug and human trafficking epidemics.”

The bill would:

• Increases drug trafficking charges for cocaine, fentanyl-related compounds, heroin and methamphetamine.

• Expands the definition of human trafficking.

• Establishes a 5-year mandatory minimum prison term if an individual is convicted of or pleads guilty to a fentanyl-related death.

• Designates August as “Fentanyl Poisoning Awareness Month.”

• Requires public schools to instruct students on the dangers of fentanyl.

• Allows law enforcement to conduct oral fluid testing.

The ACLU of Ohio opposed the bill, saying stronger drug trafficking penalties do little to stop the drug crisis and would be costly to taxpayers with an increased prison population.

“Among its 114 pages, HB230 increases trafficking penalties at least 29 times,” Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLU-Ohio, said in testimony. "Felony levels are repeatedly raised above current law, anywhere from one to three levels, depending on the substance and weight. Given the rate we currently imprison drug traffickers, it will certainly expand our overcrowded prison system. After all, HB230 is designed to do exactly that."

The independent Ohio Legislative Service Commission estimated the bill would grow the state’s prison population by at least 1,300 to 1,500, with a potential cost to taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars.

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the average institutional cost to house an inmate was $103.08 per day or more than $37,000 a year.

A second Abrams bill also recently passed the House that would allow prosecutors to pursue criminal penalties for people required to report potential child abuse and don’t and people who show a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward minors.

It also now heads to the Senate.

“We have a collective responsibility to protect Ohio children, and House Bill 322 will allow us to do so,” said Abrams. “We know when something is wrong, and we must speak up for the sake of our children and the safety of our communities.”