Arizona changes fentanyl penalties in an effort to reduce overdoses

MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA) - A new federal health report shows a sharp national decline in drug overdoses, but in Arizona, the trend is moving in the opposite direction.

Now, the state of Arizona shares on the one step they are taking to better protect people from dangerous drugs.

"Our proximity of border, our proximity to the border, certainly makes us at the center of this crisis," said David Hanselman, Deputy County Attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Inside Maricopa County courtrooms, Hanselman spends his days working to make the community a safer place as member of the office's Drug Trafficking Bureau, prosecuting 63 ongoing drugs case some of which are people facing a newly minted Arizona law targeting fentanyl dealers.

"You just have to prove that they knew that they were selling fentanyl," Hanselman shared.

If a fentanyl dealers does that, and the consumer dies as a result, a tighter prison sentence could be on the horizon. The presumptive sentence jumped from five years to ten and the maximum is now 15 years

"For the ordinary case, it would essentially double the penalties if the defendant is found guilty of selling lethal fentanyl," Hanselman explained.

When asked if the community views it as a necessary step to strengthen penalties to prevent fentanyl from being peddled on the streets, and how he thinks they should view it, Hanselman said, "I think the community should view this law favorably. So let's take a step back and talk about why the law went into effect. So in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, drug overdoses were killing in excess of 100,000 Americans each year."

Recent CDC data released this week shows drug overdose numbers dropped significantly across the country the following year 2024 to just over 80,000, and in 2025, another drop to around 70,000 deaths

But Arizona's numbers go in the opposite direction experiencing an over 17% increase year to year, bucking that trend takes more than jailing your way out of it, but Hanselman says dealers need to know what's ahead of them before putting a drug on the street that kills.

"This new law was essentially a response to that crisis, that if you sell drugs, you sell fentanyl that results in someone's death, you're going to be held accountable and suffer more severe criminal penalties," Hanselman expressed.