LITTLETON, N.H.—He knew he was in trouble even before he read the text message: “Did u hear what hapnd 2 ed?”
Ed Martin III had been found dead in the bathroom of a convenience store, slumped over on his knees with a needle and a residue-stained spoon in his pocket. He'd mainlined fentanyl, an opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. A pink plastic bag of white powder sat on the sink.
Michael Millette had heard. The overdose death of his friend, just 28, brought tears to his eyes. But he was scared, too. He was Martin’s dealer, the man who'd sold him his final fix.
In panic, Millette fled to Vermont. But within a day he was back, selling again. He needed money for his own habit.
Now, though, police had a tip that “Mike on Main Street” had been Martin’s dealer. Undercover officers began watching his furtive deals on a pedestrian bridge behind his apartment; they secretly photographed his visitors. After he sold drugs to an informant, they swooped in and arrested him.
That’s when Millette earned a dubious distinction: He became one of a growing number of dealers around the nation to face prosecution for the fatal heroin and fentanyl overdoses of their customers. He was charged not just with drug dealing, but with causing Martin’s death.
Maximum penalty: life behind bars.
In many states, including Ohio, Maine, West Virginia and New Jersey, authorities grappling with an alarming surge in opioid abuse are filing homicide, involuntary manslaughter or related charges against dealers. They argue the overdose deaths should be treated as crimes leading to stiff sentences that deter others — and deliver a measure of justice.
“We need to send that message that you can’t sell things that are the functional equivalent of poison,” says New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster, whose state has witnessed an explosion in drug-related deaths in recent years.
Millette always feared he'd get caught one day. But, he says, “I never really expected or thought anybody would get hurt or die.”
“I think about Ed every day,” he adds, sitting in a box-sized interview room in the New Hampshire State Prison for Men. “I would have rather had it been me, truth be known. I would have rather been the one that OD'd instead of being locked up in this place.”
Then, his deep-set green eyes tearing up, he reconsiders. “Maybe, I would be dead by now ... if I didn’t get caught.”
