Attorney General Joseph Foster told the Joint Task Force for the Response to the Heroin and Opioid Epidemic in New Hampshire Tuesday he hopes bringing murder charges will cause dealers to think twice about selling drugs in the state.

Foster wants the task force to approve a new drug prosecutor position to help with the added work with the murder charges.

“Over the years, overdose deaths have not been viewed as crime scenes,” Foster said, “but now we are going to do that with the goal of finding out who sold the drugs to the individual who overdosed.”

His office intends to fully prosecute the dealer up to second degree murder, he told the committee.

The number of overdose deaths are growing, he noted, with the chief medical examiner predicting more than 400 this year — up from 326 in 2014 — with 62 percent from fentanyl, which is 30 to 40 times more potent than heroin.

Foster explained his office currently has two drug prosecutors with the number of cases growing daily. He will ask the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee next week to accept a federal grant to a prosecutor to work with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in the state and wants lawmakers to approve about $115,000 for an experienced prosecutor to help bring murder cases against dealers.

The task force’s financial subcommittee voted to recommend a bill be introduced for the new drug prosecutor’s position but to go through the normal legislative process and not the fast-track for some other bills dealing with the drug epidemic.

The task force will vote next week on bills it believes should be fast-tracked, which could make them law before the end of January, such as making the penalties for the sale of fentanyl the same as for the sale of heroin and expanding the state’s new prescription monitoring program and making it mandatory for all prescribers and pharmacists.

The finance subcommittee chair, Lynne Ober, R-Hudson, said bills seeking additional money will not be approved by the task force for expediency until the state’s audit is released. The audit is taking longer than anticipated while auditors seek additional information from the liquor commission. – See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151209/NEWS03/151209175#sthash.b5cZvtrS.dpuf