Governor Glenn Youngkin spent Thursday morning signing a bill that increases punishments for those who manufacture pressed pills that include fentanyl.
Flanked by Republican legislators from the western half of the state, Governor Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares ran down a list of statistics to show how bad the fentanyl crisis is in the Commonwealth.
In 2022, about seven Virginians died of an overdose every day, Eighty percent of those deaths involved fentanyl. Youngkin warned it’s not a problem Virginians can ignore.
“Sometimes we become numb to those statistics because they seem almost unreal," Youngkin said. "And our challenge is to never become numb.”
To help combat the issue Youngkin signed a bill sponsored by Republican Senator Mark Obenshain, Democratic Senator Jennifer Boysko, and a handful of other cosponsors.
The new law raises the penalty for adulterating drugs, makes possession of pill presses a criminal offense and creates a 10-year mandatory minimum for manufacturing any substance that includes fentanyl in the presence of a minor.
Miyares had a warning for parents and families after Youngkin signed a new bill: “So many parents, what they don’t realize, their child won't be offered fentanyl at a party or sleepover. It’ll be 'Here, take this. It's a Percocet.'”
Obenshain and his Shenandoah Valley district are no stranger to the Fentanyl crisis. Just last week a man was arrested for selling a laced pill to someone who overdosed but survived.
The senator said the incident took place about 20 miles from his house, but he hoped the new law would stop similar acts in the future.
“This is a small step in the direction of getting something done and making a meaningful dent in the human toll this takes every year so I hope we can build on it,” the senator told Radio IQ.
The pill press bill was not the only Fentanyl-related piece of legislation to pass this year. Among the efforts is a study sent to the Joint Commission on Health Care to better understand how and why the drug is harming so many Virginians. Another asks the state’s Department of Education to develop information on the drug to be distributed to students and parents.
And Thursday evening, Youngkin signed on opioid-related education bill.
Youngkin has till Monday to act on all pending legislation. It requires the Department of Education to develop guidelines for school boards on how to educate students on drug abuse.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
