NEW ORDINANCE TARGETS FENTANYL SALES, POSSESSION IN SEDALIA

The City of Sedalia has a new ordinance in place targeting the fentanyl drug trade.

At Monday night’s meeting, the city council approved both readings of an ordinance that would allow prosecutors to file separate municipal charges on a suspected drug dealer while a state case is pending. Mayor Andrew Dawson credits assistant city prosecutor Todd Smith for working out how to maximize jail time for convicted dealers.

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Dawson says that visits with the parents of Sedalia teens who died from a fentanyl overdose spurred city officials to spend the past year working on the ordinance. He adds that the goal is to disrupt dealers’ business model.

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Those parents were present when the council voted 8-0 to adopt the ordinance, and were also present when the council voted in favor of the budget amendment allocating $50,000 in opioid settlement funds to The Embassy, a ministry that seeks to turn men away from lives tied down by substance abuse.