California needs a comprehensive response to the fentanyl crisis based on evidence

California, like much of the country, is facing a catastrophic fentanyl crisis. The drug — which can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine — has become the fastest-growing cause of death for young people in our state.

Because of its extreme potency, fentanyl is frequently added to other drugs to make them cheaper and more powerful. Most victims consume it accidentally because the drug is odorless, tasteless, and colorless, making it incredibly difficult to detect and all the more dangerous to our young people.

Addressing this crisis has been one of the highest priorities for the California Legislature this year, and it absolutely needs to be. This isn’t an issue that’s theoretical for me, as the father of an 18-year-old daughter, it’s deeply personal. But our response to it must be comprehensive, data-driven, science-based and rooted in drug policy that gets at the source of the problem.

Democrats and Republicans have introduced a wide array of measures to tackle the crisis. Bills focusing on the criminal aspects of the drug trade have been heard in the Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees, and measures aimed at the mental and physical components of addiction have been agendized in the Health and Education Committees of both houses.

As a member of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, I am reminded of the old saying that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, that is the approach that I am seeing all too often from my Republican colleagues who seem more focused on using the fentanyl crisis to reignite a war on drugs that will fail just like it did before.

We have already seen that taking a “lock ‘em all up” approach that reignites old culture wars and re-criminalizes small quantities of drugs would have devastating impacts on communities of color and LGBTQ+ youth and do nothing more than fill our prisons with people from our most marginalized communities. Multiple studies and decades of failed drug policy have shown us that longer penalties for simple drug possession don’t prevent crime, they merely extend prison sentences and break up families and communities for generations.

Existing law already contains significant penalties for possession and sale of fentanyl. Anyone selling or offering to sell fentanyl is already subject to up to 5 years in prison. Unfortunately, under the GOP’s proposals, if a young person has a single pill unknowingly laced with fentanyl and gives it to their friend, they would be thrown into prison–dissuading people from calling 911 in the event of a potential overdose.

But Republicans in Sacramento aren’t just focused on increasing penalties for fentanyl, they are also attempting to increase prison sentences for other drugs in a backward attempt to relitigate the failed policies of the war on drugs. Under their proposals, a kid with a single pill of another substance that is not fentanyl would be imprisoned as well. The reality is that mass incarceration not only wastes valuable resources, it destroys families and lives, re-victimizing the very people that are at the forefront of this crisis.

Those policies miss what should be the focus of our collective efforts, which is prosecuting large-scale dealers who are driving the larger fentanyl crisis. When we strengthen our drug laws, it should be to crack down on drug traffickers who are intentionally putting large amounts of deadly fentanyl into pills and drugs that reach our communities. That’s why I voted twice for AB 701, which puts fentanyl in the same category of controlled substances as heroin and cocaine.

To solve our fentanyl crisis, we need a smart, targeted approach that is multifaceted and based on scientific evidence on what is most effective in preventing deadly overdoses.

In addition to enhancing efforts to target drug traffickers who are making the decisions to lace and distribute drugs with fentanyl, our state needs to invest in a broad public education and health system that both informs young people of the deadly risks of fentanyl and makes test strips and Narcan broadly available. Supplying test strips and Narcan to local governments, law enforcement agencies, libraries, schools, bars, clubs, and other public spaces is one of the most effective ways to reduce fatal overdoses.

We also need to significantly increase funding for substance treatment services to ensure anyone who needs drug programs can access them. Currently, it’s nearly impossible for most folks to access a program that prescribes medication to treat opioid abuse.

Fortunately, there are a number of comprehensive, sound policies in the State Legislature this year focused on these proven strategies that I have been pleased to support. I am co-authoring AB 1060, which ensures universal, cost-free coverage of naloxone for the treatment of an opioid overdose. I supported AB 474, which strengthens cooperation between state and local law enforcement agencies to disrupt and dismantle fentanyl trafficking networks. I also co-authored AB 33, which will establish a task force to address fentanyl addiction and overdoses.

Ultimately, if our state can get past failed incarceration-focused approaches and address the root problems of drug abuse as the systemic public safety and health problems crises they are, we will have a much better shot at saving lives rather than re-victimizing our most vulnerable communities.

Rick Chavez Zbur represents the 51st Assembly District.