SC needs a fentanyl trafficking law. Politicians, law enforcement officials agree.
Law enforcement and political leaders in South Carolina say they want tougher laws targeting the trafficking of fentanyl.
Their statements came after last week’s seizure of the largest amount ever in the Rock Hill region.
The amount of fentanyl seized was so large, and the public danger so great, that a news conference Monday featured U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, U.S. Rep Ralph Norman, and law enforcement officials from York and nearby counties.
The more than 65 pounds of fentanyl recovered, equivalent to more than 30 kilograms, is enough to kill the entire population of South Carolina, officials said at the news conference at the York County Sheriff’s Office.
None of the officials said what would constitute a lethal dose of the drug.
Fentanyl has created a new level of danger in the Charlotte region and is the most common illegal drug locally, police told the Charlotte Observer earlier this year.
Illegal fentanyl is behind a local and national spike in overdoses because the pills are homemade, Sheriff Kevin Tolson said.
“This is not dealing drugs anymore, this is dealing death,” Tolson said at the news conference.
In York County in 2022, there have been 87 overdose deaths with almost all believed to be linked to fentanyl, Tolson said.
No specific law aimed at fentanyl trafficking
Six people from York County were charged last week when the fentanyl and other drugs, including cocaine, meth, were found at homes near Clover, Lake Wylie and Rock Hill.
However, South Carolina does not have a fentanyl drug trafficking law, similar to trafficking laws regulating cocaine, meth and other narcotics, with sentences that can reach 30 years or longer. Under current law, fentanyl dealing can be prosecuted only as possession with intent to distribute. The maximum sentence for fenanyl is 15 years, officials said.
Tolson and 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett said at the news conference some South Carolina state legislators have continuously blocked efforts to enact a tougher law.
“We need to do something to get all this death off the streets,” Brackett said.
Lindsey Graham: ’We need a war on fentanyl’
Graham said the amount of fentanyl seized could kill all five million-plus residents of South Carolina -- twice over.
“We need a war on fentanyl,” Graham said.
Graham said problems at the Mexican border are allowing fentanyl from China to get in the United States.
The news conference came two weeks before people vote in November, and crime has become an election issue.
Graham is not up for election.
Norman said issues such as needing stronger fentanyl laws and fixing the borders will be on the ballot.
Norman, a Republican York County native who faces Democrat Evangeline Hundley of Newberry, blamed the fentanyl problem on the administration of President Joe Biden and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Graham and Norman said at the news conference that fentanyl is so dangerous that it is comparable with terrorism against Americans.
The news conference featured several chiefs of police from area municipalities and other politicians. Several people, who said they had family members who died of a fatal fentanyl overdose, also were present.
Some want laws enacted that would prosecute fentanyl dealers for murder if the drug is given or sold to someone and determined to have caused death.
The drug and gun seizures
Search warrants were executed Oct. 19 near Lake Wylie, Rock Hill, and Clover, according to officials.
Officers found 30,531 grams of fentanyl, 2,869 grams of cocaine, 704 grams of meth, 454 grams of marijuana, four guns, steroids, and seven pill presses used to manufacture pills, officials said.
Four of the people charged after the Oct. 19 raids face fentanyl-related charges, according to police.
Fentanyl dangers
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA says fentanyI is inexpensive, widely available, highly addictive — and potentially lethal.
“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram in a a news release statement issued Aug. 19 about the fentanyl problem nationwide.
Drug traffickers are increasingly mixing fentanyl with other illicit drugs — in powder and pill form — to drive addiction and create repeat customers, the DEA said in the statement.
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 4:35 PM.
