(The Center Square) – The ACLU of Wisconsin voiced its opposition against a new state law that would send people who sell fentanyl that kills people to jail.
Gov. Tony Evers on Friday signed a law requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for people who sell the drugs involved in deadly fentanyl overdoses.
“It is way past time that we start holding deadly drug dealers accountable,” Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said. “This bill closes a loophole allowing these dangerous criminals to avoid prison time, and any real consequences.”
The ACLU of Wisconsin, on Monday, said the new law is a step backward.
“If we’ve learned anything from the failed War on Drugs, it’s that we cannot incarcerate our way out of addiction and drug use. Yet, after decades of abject policy failure, we still repeat the same mistakes,” the ACLU said in a statement. “It further entrenches us in destructive cycles of criminalization and punishment that devastate our communities – particularly Black and Brown communities – while doing little to nothing to combat drug problems.”
Wanggaard wrote the new law and helped shepherd it through the legislature.
The new law increases the penalty for selling drugs involved in a deadly overdose from a Class C felony to a Class B felony. A Class C felony allowed judges’ discretion about a prison sentence. A Class Felony must include jail time.
The ACLU said the law may cause more deadly overdoses because people may be less likely to call 911 if something goes wrong.
Wanggaard agrees the new law is not a silver bullet, but he said the idea that getting tougher on drug dealers is not a bad idea in and of itself.
“Getting these deadly drug dealers off the street, and putting them behind bars, will make our streets safer and will save lives,” Wanggaard said. “But there is no quick fix to ending this epidemic. As long as it continues to rage in our state I will continue to work and find new ways to fight it.”
