HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3234        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1242

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Nick Collins

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to punish drug distribution causing death.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Nick Collins

4th Suffolk

1/16/2015

Linda Dorcena Forry

First Suffolk

8/12/2019

Brian M. Ashe

2nd Hampden

8/12/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3234        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1242

By Mr. Collins of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1242) of Nick Collins, Linda Dorcena Forry and Brian M. Ashe relative to the punishment for deaths caused as the result of the injection, inhalation or ingestion of drugs.  The Judiciary.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

_______________

 

An Act to punish drug distribution causing death.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 1.  Chapter 265 is hereby amended by adding after Section 15C the following section: -

Any person who manufactures, sells, distributes, or dispenses methamphetamine, lysergic acid, diethylamide phencyclidine (PCP) or any other controlled drug in Class A or Class B as set forth at section 31 of chapter 94C, or any controlled drug analog thereof, in violation of chapter 94C, is strictly liable for a death which results from the injection, inhalation or ingestion of that substance, and may be sentenced to imprisonment for life or for any term of years as the court may order. For purposes of this section, the person’s act of manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, or selling a substance is the cause of a death when:

(a) The injection, inhalation or ingestion of the substance is an antecedent but for which the death would not have occurred; and

(b) The death was proximately caused by a person who manufactured, sold, distributed, or dispensed such substance.

It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this section that the decedent contributed to his own death by his purposeful, knowing, reckless or negligent injection, inhalation or ingestion of the substance or by his consenting to the administration of the substance by another. Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude or limit any prosecution for homicide.