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Bill expands child-endangerment statute to include fentanyl and certain THC exposures
Summary
Sen. Greg Hertz and the Montana Department of Justice proposed adding fentanyl, other scheduled drugs and certain THC exposures to felony criminal-endangerment-of-a-child statutes; prosecutors and law-enforcement groups supported the change while lawmakers sought clarifications about "exposure" and prosecutorial discretion.
Sen. Greg Hertz said Senate Bill 261 updates criminal-endangerment-of-a-child law to add fentanyl and other controlled substances and to address adult conduct that exposes children to those drugs. "If you look at the changes...causing or permitting the child to inhale to be exposed, to ingest marijuana and other products containing THC," Hertz said when describing the bill.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said the bill grew out of experiences in the field where investigators found children in residences with fentanyl and other dangerous drugs. Knudsen described the bill as primarily a fentanyl…
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