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Drug smugglers in Texas may soon face harsher penalties for selling fentanyl – the number one killer of young Americans.

The state Senate unanimously passed a bill that would stiffen penalties on the sale and production of the drug.

Under the bill, the delivery of one gram would become a third-degree felony. It would also reclassify an overdose as a “poisoning.” This would pave the way for prosecutors to seek murder charges against drug dealers.

Texas lost over 1,600 lives to fentanyl in 2021. That’s a nearly four-fold increase from 2019. The crisis is worsening, as drug dealers exploit the situation at the southern border.

The CDC says that 5,000 Texans overdosed on drugs between July 2021 and July 2022.

The bill will now go to the Texas House.