Scottsdale family advocates for ‘Noah’s Law' after teen’s overdose death
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Scottsdale family is pushing for new legislation after a teen died from taking a pill from a friend.
Monday will mark one year since 17-year-old Noah Ayala died from a fentanyl overdose.
“Time has moved. There’s a lot of quietness within the home, I think, within ourselves,” said Noah’s dad, Gustavo Ayala.
Noah was a senior at Desert Mountain High School. He had just started a new job and was on track to graduate, but a text from one of his friends offering that pill changed everything. “Noah was one that, you know, he was always easily influenced and smart as he was, he was very immature in that sense,” said his mom, Vanessa Ayala.
Since then, the Ayalas said that the friend who supplied these drugs had not faced any charges. “It’s difficult to fathom that the individual that provided this poison to our son can easily provide it to other people in this past year,” Gustavo said.
Matthew Bergman, an attorney with the Social Media Victims Law Center, said they had over 150 cases of families whose children died from fentanyl poisoning last year.
“It is a major crisis,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan. Sheridan said that the current law in Arizona can make it difficult to pursue charges against anyone who provides a few pills.
That’s why Senate Bill 1621, also known as Noah’s Law, would make it easier to charge these drug dealers. “Anything that ups the sentence to someone supplying these dangerous drugs to people, especially young kids, needs to be held accountable and go to prison,” Sheridan said.
Noah’s Law would increase the sentencing, making the minimum sentence 15 years and the maximum 25 years. The bill passed the Senate with an 18-10 vote and has passed the House Judiciary Committee in a 6-3 vote. It’s on the way to the House floor.
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