On Monday, Laura Shanafelter joined lawmakers at the Harrisburg Capitol’s East Wing Rotunda to urge passage of legislation named after her late son to strengthen sentences for fentanyl dealers.
Called “Tyler’s Law,” the measure sponsored by State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years on any fentanyl pusher who facilitated a sale resulting in someone’s death. The senator has lamented that these dealers often get sentences of only a few years in cases when investigation even occurs.
Tyler Shanafelter, an 18-year-old who lived in Mastriano’s district, lost his life on October 10, 2020 after taking fentanyl-laced pills that he purchased believing they were Percocet.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with an effect like morphine’s, though it can exceed its potency 100 times over. Frequently, those buying fentanyl believe they are buying common painkillers like Percocet, Oxycodone, OxyContin or Xanax.
“I’m here today because I have been my son’s voice since the day he died,” Tyler’s mother told press conference attendees who included others who lost loved ones to opioid overdoses. “But I am not here today just to speak of my son; I’m here today because we have a crisis in America and this crisis is killing our children at record levels.”
Last year, America suffered over 107,000 drug-related fatalities. Over 71,000 of those resulted from fentanyl poisoning. That number has climbed steeply, having totaled approximately 40,000 just two years earlier.
“When over 100,000 people die from a poison, that is a weapon of mass destruction,” Shanafelter declared. “If you have not been affected, you are the lucky ones. If we do not do something now, the chances of it affecting you or someone you love greatly increases. And before you know it, your own child may lose their best friend – if they don’t lose their own life.”
Jefferson County District Attorney Jeff Burkett (R) joined Shanafelter and Mastriano in exhorting legislators to pass Tyler’s Law, emphasizing the deterrent effect he expects it to have on pushers who understand the lethality of their products.
“I support this initiative because I know that the sellers of this poison know how dangerous fentanyl is,” Burkett said. “It is well-known in the drug world that [taking fentanyl] is akin to playing Russian roulette; it has a high likelihood of killing the user, but they continue to sell it anyway.”
The prosecutor recalled reading text messages between dealers and buyers, with the latter advising the former to “be a little careful” and start with a modest dose. That, he said, turned out to be “really bad advice” insofar as some users took just one snort of fentanyl and lethally overdosed.
Pennsylvania’s annual fentanyl death toll has reached over 4,500. Tyler’s Law is one of two measures Mastriano recently introduced to address the problem. The other is a bill to improve first responders’ reporting of drug overdoses using the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program. The system is designed to help public safety and public health officials respond to spikes in overdoses.
Mastriano’s overdose-reporting legislation unanimously passed the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee last week and awaits consideration by the full chamber. Tyler’s Law has yet to receive a vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I think the time for talking and dithering is over,” the senator said. “We need action. We need to do something now … . As I travel the state here, sadly, I meet family members who’ve lost sons and daughters or other loved ones, and it’s heartbreaking every time I talk to these family members because [these deaths] can be avoided, [they] can be stopped.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
