GOSHEN – Fentanyl when taken by a drug user often leads to death
and while it may be classified as a controlled substance for legal use
when prescribed by a doctor, there are numbers of instances where abuse
has caused death.
The Orange County Legislature, Thursday, adopted a resolution calling
on the state legislature to take action to classify as controlled substances
certain fentanyl “analogues” that are responsible for overdose
death.
Legislator Robert Sassi, chairman of the Subcommittee on Opioid Addiction,
said while fentanyl may be classified as such, when the chemical makeup
is modified, even ever so slightly, that, too, would have to be classified.
The illegal drug manufacturers are one step ahead of the law on this,
Sassi said.
New State Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson said he would sponsor it when
lawmakers return to Albany in January. “This is not a Democratic
or Republican issue; it’s a human issue,” he said.
Some 102 people in Orange County have died this year from opioid overdoses,
18 of those were the result, in part, of the victim’s use of one
or more fentanyl analogues that were not controlled substances.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Robert Conflitti brought issue of
chemically modified fentanyl to the county legislature recently, prompting
the memorializing resolution.
Sheriff Carl DuBois said the opioid crisis has “gotten worse”
and the crisis must be addressed head-on.
