HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3518        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1497

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Paul K. Frost

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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 relative to drug distribution causing death.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3518        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1497

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 1571 OF 2021-2022.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act relative to 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:
 

Chapter 265 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 59.  Any person who, in violation of chapter 94C, manufactures, distributes, or dispenses heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide, phencyclidine (PCP) or any other controlled substance in Class A, Class B, or Class C, as set forth at section 31 of chapter 94C, is strictly liable for a death which results from the injection, inhalation or ingestion of that substance, and shall be punished by imprisonment for life or for any term of years as the court may order, and by a fine of not more than $25,000; provided, however, that the sentence of imprisonment imposed upon such person shall not be reduced to less than 5 years, nor suspended, nor shall any such person be eligible for probation, parole or furlough or receive a deduction from his or her sentence for good conduct until such person shall have served 5 years of such sentence.

For purposes of this section, a person’s act of manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing 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, distributed, or dispensed such substance.

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