A bill at the Oklahoma Legislature would make it easier for law enforcement to investigate and criminally charge people who provide fentanyl when it causes a fatal overdose.   

Rep. Steve Bashore, R-Miami, filed House Bill 2941 this session, which would require first responders to alert police as part of overdose responses. The bill would also allow any detectable amount of fentanyl in an overdose death to be used as evidence in court that a person died as a result of the drug. Bashore did not respond to requests for comment.

To combat an epidemic of fentanyl deaths, prosecutors around the country have increasingly treated fatal overdoses as homicides. The goal is to prosecute drug dealers, but the practice can sometimes lead to criminal charges for family and friends of the victim, who are also struggling with substance use disorder. Some emergency responders and harm reduction groups say the threat of criminal charges can deter people from getting medical help for someone who is overdosing. 

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Overdose deaths from fentanyl and from all drugs had been increasing in Oklahoma every year since 2020, before falling sharply in 2024, according to the most recent state data. The state saw 487 fentanyl-related deaths in 2024, down from 727 deaths in 2023.

Matt Ballard, who serves as district attorney for Craig, Mayes and Rogers Counties, said the bill could lead to more convictions in Oklahoma, where people can be charged with first-degree murder if they supply drugs that cause another person’s death. 

Ballard said his office pursues murder charges in fatal overdose cases against anyone who provides drugs to a person who overdoses. While he said his staff is focused on prosecuting drug dealers, they can also file murder charges against friends or family who share drugs that lead to a death. He said his office will consider steps a user takes to seek medical help for a person experiencing an overdose, but it won’t absolve them from criminal liability. 

“If you’re giving drugs to a friend, if you’re providing drugs to a fellow drug user, that’s a crime. You’re potentially going to be prosecuted for it,” Ballard said.  

Oklahoma District Attorneys Association president Kyle Cabelka said delays in investigating fentanyl cases can prevent accountability. 

“This bill gives law enforcement the ability to respond faster, follow the evidence, and hold those who distribute lethal drugs responsible,” Cabelka said in an emailed statement to The Frontier. “Oklahoma’s prosecutors believe it is a necessary step to better protect Oklahoma families.”  

HB 2941 would help the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control investigate and arrest as many people as possible who are involved in the distribution of drugs, said Mark Woodward, an agency spokesperson. Notifications could help identify clusters of overdose deaths that might indicate the spread of a new lethal batch of a drug, he said.  

Woodward said his agency typically focuses on traffickers while local police often handle cases involving smaller amounts of drugs. 

“If you can cripple an entire network, especially the people moving the money and the larger loads of drugs, then you’re going to impact all the wholesalers, retailers, and ultimately, the users,” Woodward said. 

District attorney Jack Thorp said he recommended the strategies outlined in HB 2941 as part of  the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association legislative committee. First responders in his district, which covers Adair, Cherokee, Sequoyah and Wagoner Counties, have been alerting police to drug overdoses for the past three years. 

State data indicates that the number of fatal overdoses from all drugs in Thorp’s district peaked with 71 deaths in 2022, and has decreased since with 60 deaths in 2023 and 47 in 2024. Thorp said he’s filed six homicide charges related to these deaths since 2023. He said he believes his office’s strategy for prosecuting fatal overdoses communicates that it takes these deaths seriously. 

“I think it would be helpful for the rest of the state to, in essence, get this message out treating these crimes as homicides and hopefully save lives,” Thorp said. “That’s the whole point of this legislation.” 

Teams outside of police departments respond to drug overdoses 

Some communities in Oklahoma have begun using specialized overdose response teams with limited law enforcement involvement. The teams say their goals are to build trust with the community and free up police for other duties, but HB 2941 would hamper that work.  

A team housed in the Tulsa Fire Department responds to overdose calls alongside firefighters, ambulances and police, said Justin Lemery, the department’s Emergency Medical Services chief. The team also follows up after an overdose to provide education, naloxone and fentanyl test strips without police. 

Since its creation in April 2025, Lemery said the team has made 1,058 total contacts. He said many people trust the fire department but can clam up or stop engaging with his team when law enforcement is present. Part of HB 2941 that requires first responders to call police if they believe a person previously experienced an overdose would cripple their ability to connect with clients during follow-up calls, he said. 

“That would destroy this team,” Lemery said. “They would not have anywhere near the buy-in that they do now.”

The Oklahoma Fire Department has a similar alternative response team made up of a mental health provider, a peer recovery specialist and a paramedic, said Lori Brown-Loftis, the Mobile Integrated Healthcare program manager. 

She said the team tracks dispatches that the fire department responds to and follows up with recovery resources for the person who experienced the overdose and their loved ones. The team’s paramedics can provide treatment for opioid addiction that helps the person in recovery avoid some withdrawal symptoms. The team received 1,139 calls for service in 2025. 

Brown-Loftis said police respond with the team on calls where they’ve identified a risk of suicide or violence to others. Once team members have neutralized the threat, she said, they can release police from the scene. 

“Our goal is to try to put other emergency services back into their rotation, so then they can respond to other calls,” Brown-Loftis said.  

Shred the Stigma is a local organization that distributes naloxone and provides education and equipment for safe drug use across much of the Oklahoma City metro area. 

Board secretary Caila Garcia said she advises the people they serve to call 911 for overdoses, but many of them are already apprehensive. 

Garcia said her organization has tried to develop workarounds that lead to paramedics responding before police, like advising people to tell dispatchers that someone in crisis isn’t breathing instead of that they’re experiencing an overdose. She said HB 2941 overcomplicates already complex emergency responses. 

“We’re having to not only address an emergency situation in a panic, but now we have to be clever to try to protect ourselves from getting arrested and having our lives completely upended,” Garcia said.  

HB 2941 is expected to be heard in the House Civil Judiciary committee at 10:30 am on Feb. 19.