By Sam Parsons

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is currently on a statewide tour across Iowa in which she has invited all 99 counties to a victim services roundtable to learn about issues and needs within Iowa communities.

In an interview with No Coast Network News, Bird, who is currently in the first year of her first term as the state’s Attorney General, compared and contrasted her approach to the fentanyl crisis with that of former Attorney General Tom Miller. Miller, in his final term as Iowa AG, led multiple lawsuits that featured dozens of different states and resulted in millions of dollars’ worth of settlements; in 2022 alone, Miller signed on to five new settlement agreements with manufacturers Teva and Allergan, as well as pharmacies CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens which totaled $132.5 million. Bird said that while holding opioid manufacturers accountable was important, she felt that a greater emphasis must be placed on stopping fentanyl from coming in from abroad.

Bird then discussed her recently proposed legislation that would increase the penalty for drug dealers who distribute a drug that kills someone. She said that the status quo is such that these cases are prosecuted on a federal level only.

Bird said that she thinks the state legislature supports the idea, but didn’t give a timeline on when she thought it would be passed into law.

More information on the Iowa Attorney General can be found at iowaattorneygeneral.gov.