Connecticut is one of several states considering legislation that would allow drug dealers to be charged with murder.
A bill from Connecticut State Representative Kurt Vail would bring a prison sentence of up to 60 years for supplying drugs that lead to a fatal overdose. The offense would legally be considered murder.
Vail, a Republican whose district includes the town of Stafford, said he introduced the bill after speaking to a Stafford resident whose son died of a fentanyl overdose.
About 1,000 people in Connecticut died from drug overdoses last year. Most of those deaths involved fentanyl, an opioid about 50 times more powerful than heroin.
