TEXAS' TOUGH NEW ANTI-DRUG BILL ADVANCES

AUSTIN, Texas -- Some drug dealers who sell as little as one gram of
illegal substances would face life imprisonment under a bill that cleared
the Texas Senate on Tuesday.

The measure, Senate Bill 41, would subject drug dealers to a minimum of 15
years in prison and a maximum life sentence if the buyer dies from using
the drug.

``With the presence of deadlier and more potent drugs today that are out on
the street and risk of overdose as well as death increasing ... this is an
important piece of legislation,'' said bill sponsor, Sen. Florence Shapiro,
R-Plano.

The bill also would allow prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties against
drug dealers if the buyer suffers serious bodily injury as a result of
taking the drug. Punishment in those cases could be increased to the next
highest category of crime, and first-degree felonies would be subjected to
a minimum 15-year sentence.

The Senate also approved another Shapiro proposal Tuesday, Senate Bill 43,
which would establish a statewide database of drug overdoses. Under that
proposal, physicians would have to report deaths attributed to substance
abuse, much as they now report deaths from firearms.

Both bills are part of a package of anti-drug measures that Shapiro
introduced this session in the wake of the deaths of more than two dozen
young people in North Texas in the past two years; all the deaths were
attributed to heroin overdoses.

SB 41 mirrors federal legislation imposing a maximum life sentence on drug
dealers if an individual dies as a result of taking a substance bought from
the dealer.

Stephanie Goodman, spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Alcohol and
Drug Abuse, said the number of deaths due to cocaine and heroin overdoses
rose dramatically between 1992 and 1997, the last year for which the agency
has figures.

In 1997, there were 333 deaths attributed to heroin overdoses and 338
attributed to cocaine overdoses. By comparison, in 1992 the state recorded
223 deaths from cocaine use; that number dropped to 189 in 1995, Goodman
added, before rising rapidly in the next two years. In 1992, 167 deaths
were attributed to heroin overdoses.

She attributed the rise in cocaine and heroin use to a drop in prices and
newer methods of ingesting the drugs -- such as snorting as opposed to
intravenous injection -- which makes drug use more acceptable to some people.

``When price is low, more people use -- it's like selling shoes,'' she said.

One drug counselor told her that an individual can buy enough heroin to
kill himself for $10.

While prices have dropped, Goodman said, the purity has risen, particularly
with heroin.

``In Lubbock, a shipment of black tar (heroin) was so strong that dealers
had to dilute it twice before they could sell it,'' Goodman said.

Shapiro's third anti-drug initiative, SB 42, would set a model for drug
testing of public school students at parents' request. Senate Bill 44 would
prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from checking themselves out of drug treatment
programs.