With the increase in overdoses around the country, new laws have been passed to discourage the use and sale of drugs. One of the most severe of these is the drug-induced homicide law. Essentially, Florida law says that if you were to sell a person drugs and they later died from an overdose on those same drugs, you would be charged with drug-induced homicide.
What do you need to know about drug-induced homicide laws?
Drug-induced homicide laws have been in place for the last few decades to varying degrees. In the state of Florida, a drug dealer can be charged with drug-induced homicide when it’s proven that the drugs they sold to a person aided in that person’s death in some way.
This only applies to drugs that are illegally sold in Florida. It’s not just any drug, either; most of the drug-induced homicide charges in the state relate specifically to fentanyl. This opioid drug is often added to street drugs to make them more potent.
How is drug-induced homicide proven?
In the state of Florida, a toxicology report will alert the authorities of any drugs in the system. From there, the authorities will likely start questioning friends and family of the deceased to figure out who sold them the drugs.
Finding the drug dealer is only half the battle for authorities. A lot of time, the burden of proof falls on the authorities themselves to provide information, which is why it’s hard to charge someone with drug-induced homicide.
Going beyond that, selling someone drugs doesn’t necessarily mean an intent to kill. Reach out to a lawyer if you have questions about the drug-induced homicide law and how it affects you.
