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Governor Signs Bill Increasing Some Drug Penalties
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio’s governor has signed a bill that increases penalties for drug trafficking and some other drug offenses when the drug involved is a fentanyl-related compound.
Republican Gov. John Kasich signed Senate Bill 1 on Wednesday. The law will go into effect after 90 days.
Among other things, it calls for increased penalties for drug trafficking, drug possession and aggravated funding of drug trafficking when a fentanyl-related compound is involved. The law could add as many as eight years to sentences of drug offenders convicted of serious crimes involving drugs containing fentanyl.
Increased penalties wouldn’t apply if the defendant didn’t know a compound contained fentanyl.
When a fentanyl-related drug conviction is connected to a homicide conviction, the law would require that prison sentences for each conviction run consecutively.