OLYMPIA, Wash — Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law Thursday that would target the use of "pill presses" to create counterfeit pills that often are packed with fentanyl.
House Bill 1209 would make knowingly using or having a tableting or encapsulating machine for the purpose of creating counterfeit pills a Class C felony.
Class C felonies are punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
HB 1209 is known as "Tyler's Law," named after Tyler Lee Yates, who died in January 2022 at 31 years old after taking what he believed was a legitimate Oxycontin.
"I'm very, very grateful," said Tyler's father, Greg Yates, "If it saves one life, it's worth it."
Rep. Dan Griffey, R-Allyn, who cosponsored the bill, was a close family friend of Yates.
"Tyler was the son of a firefighter with whom I came up the ranks with," Griffey said. "He was a good kid struggling to get relief from chronic pain he suffered after a motorcycle crash, and like many in similar situations - he turned to the black market. He was at a local casino and bought what he believed to be a legitimate Oxycontin. Law enforcement would later view security camera footage and watch as Tyler died in that parking lot after taking one pill he believed to be a legitimate, federally-regulated pharmaceutical that was made with a pill press and full of unregulated amounts of one of the most addictive and deadly drugs on the planet - fentanyl."
The encapsulating machine is defined as any manual, semiautomatic, or fully automatic equipment that can be used to fill shells or capsules with powdered or granular solids or semisolid material to produce coherent solid contents.
A tableting machine is defined as any manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic equipment that can be used to compact, compress, or mold powdered or granular solids or semisolid material to produce fused coherent solid tablets.