The Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office announced today that it will begin charging user-to-user fentanyl overdose deaths as manslaughter in the first degree.

“We are very sensitive about fentanyl and how dangerous it is,” said Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna (D). “I want to protect the community at large, and that includes a user who may be in distress. No one should be afraid to call for medical help if someone they are using with takes a turn for the worse.”

Each case will be reviewed to see if circumstances dictate a different charge. Going case by case also allows an opportunity to see which people may benefit from Drug Treatment Court, which aims to break the cycle of addiction and incarceration, according to the district attorney’s office.

According to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and schedule II drug that is 100 to 1,000 times more potent than morphine.

“We take any death seriously and there should be accountability when someone dies from an overdose of fentanyl,” said Behenna. “But our goal should be to pursue the dealers and traffickers who are making a profit on the backs of Oklahomans who have an addiction. Of particular concern is counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills, which OBNDD says is the most common form of illicit fentanyl on the streets.”

The district attorney’s office said it will work with law enforcement partners to pursue dealers and traffickers who are selling fentanyl in Oklahoma County.

“They know they’re dealing in fentanyl, and they’re pushing those pills out there and people are dying,” Behenna shared.

People will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including in cases where it can be proven the conduct of dealers and traffickers caused an overdose death, including pursuing first degree murder charges, according to Behenna.

Data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, there were 47 fentanyl overdose deaths in Oklahoma in 2019. By 2021, that number grew to 297.