The sentencing of New York drug dealer Irvin Cartagena would have been unremarkable were it not for the status of the person he accidentally killed. On September 6, 2021, Michael K Williams was found unresponsive at his Brooklyn apartment. He had taken heroin — or what he thought was heroin. In fact, it had been laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Williams, in a small irony, was best known for playing Omar Little, one of the most beloved characters in the TV show The Wire, the cult show about the lives of Baltimore’s drug dealers. ‘I am very sorry for my actions,’ Cartagena announced to the court on 18 August. ‘When we sold the drugs, we never intended for anyone to lose their life.’ Actuaries may be able to spot a flaw in Cartagena’s argument. Even heroin use, already something of a risk premium on any mortality table, is becoming increasingly dangerous as synthetic opioids seep into the supply. Up and down the social ladder, the American opioid epidemic has become a part of the national conversation.
