Two years younger than Lewis, Nicholas S. Murray, 24, was fun-loving and passionate about life, Lewis said.

And while he did illegally use prescription drugs, he paid for his mistake with his life, Lewis said.

But she also said her brother isn’t the only who should face consequences in connection with his overdose.

So this week, Lewis is circulating a petition in the hope of convincing legislators to change state law to make it more likely drug dealers face consequences when users die.

A petition-signing event is planned for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Capt’n Bill’s Backyard Grill off Market Street. The event is also to remember people who have died from overdoses, Lewis said.

During the past five years an average of 768 people died in North Carolina each year as a result of accidental drug overdoses, according to statistics from the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics Web site.

New Hanover County averaged 23 deaths per year during that period. Brunswick County averaged 12 deaths and Pender County, two, according to the center’s Web site.

Lewis isn’t the only relative of a young overdose victim who says drug dealers should face consequences when users overdose on their product.

John McIntosh, whose 21-year-old daughter Renee Guinn overdosed in November, has said if someone gave his daughter drugs, they should be prosecuted criminally in connection with her death. Guinn overdosed at the home of a man who was on bond while awaiting trial on allegations of heroin dealing, according to an incident report filed with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

Keith Thompson of Wilmington, whose daughter Blaire overdosed in 2004, said relatives of overdose victims expect criminal charges to follow the deaths, and too often, they’re disappointed.

“When your child is dead, if they had a gunshot wound or a knife in their back, the police would look into what happened to them,” Thompson said. But if the investigation reveals the victim took drugs, Thompson said, the case is closed.

In 2006, Thompson supported a Drug Dealer Liability Act, which would have allowed families of overdose victims to sue drug dealers who sold in the area where the overdose occurred.

The measure wasn’t supported in the General Assembly, Thompson said.

Part of the problem with holding dealers accountable, he says, is North Carolina’s rule of contributory negligence – meaning that if a person contributes to their own injury, they can’t seek damages from another person who may also have been at fault.

With her petition, Lewis seeks to rid North Carolina law of contributory negligence. But Lewis, 27, also said she hopes the petition draws attention to overdose cases and encourages more criminal prosecutions.

“People don’t have compassion for people with drug dependencies,” she said. “It has to happen to you before you take it seriously, and it’s sad.”

New Hanover Assistant District Attorney Jon David said fatal drug overdoses send a message out to addicts that a particular dealer is selling potent drugs.

So investigators respond quickly to overdoses, he said, to arrest the dealer, get the drugs off the street and prevent more deaths.

But while state law technically allows dealers, in certain cases, to be prosecuted for second-degree murder in connection with an overdose, making the charge stick in court is a tough proposition.

Witnesses to overdoses are usually breaking the law themselves, David said, and so rarely cooperate with police. Also, it’s difficult to prove the dealer intended to hurt the user.

But the biggest problem, David said, is convincing a jury the dealer is at fault when users choose to take drugs which they know are dangerous and illegal.

Authorities know users are acting on an addiction, David said, and they aim to prosecute the drug dealers who make money off users by prosecuting them for drug dealing. But that doesn’t mean prosecutors can convince a jury that the user isn’t the one who is ultimately responsible for his or her death.

“Our obligation is to prosecute cases we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury,” David said. “These cases are notoriously mission impossible.”

Still, David said both violent crime and narcotics investigators respond to overdoses.

On Oct. 3, Murray and his girlfriend, Malissa R. Hurlburt, 26, were found in their Wilmington apartment, both dead of an accidental overdose, according to Detective K.J. Tully, who investigates violent crimes and deaths for the Wilmington Police Department.

There were no witnesses. Police found opiate-based painkillers, some of them legally prescribed to Hurlburt. Some prescription bottles were empty even though the prescriptions had been recently filled, Tully said.

Toxicology tests showed Murray and Hurlburt died after combining opiate-based painkillers oxymorphone and hydrocodone with illegally obtained methadone, Tully said.

Illegal use of opiate-based painkillers is a big problem in Wilmington, he said, and overdoses are common.

“If you mix it with methadone,” he said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”

Mixing drugs obtained from different sources also complicates an investigation. In those cases, the cause of the overdose isn’t a specific drug from a specific dealer, but rather the user’s decision to combine them, Tully said.

U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein of Maryland has prosecuted one drug dealer with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which resulted in death – a conviction punishable by 20 years to life in prison. The defendant was illegally selling prescription drugs, including methadone and various brands of oxycodone and hydrocodone, according to a statement from Rosenstein’s office.

Rosenstein said his office also is considering charges against several other suspected dealers in connection with overdoses.

The cases are tough, he said, because authorities must show what drug caused an overdose and also who supplied it.

Since many users take multiple drugs, bought from multiple dealers, connecting the overdose to one specific dealer is a challenge. Also, drug deals don’t leave a paper trail, so connecting the dealer to his product is difficult.

Despite the challenges, Rosenstein said if overdose cases are investigated like murders, more could be prosecuted and more drug dealers could receive longer sentences.

Authorities in North Carolina also are using state law to prosecute defendants they say helped cause an overdose.

In December, Alamance County sheriff’s deputies charged two women in connection with the death of a 24-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin, according to Randy Jones, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.

Authorities allege the two defendants gave the victim heroin and helped her take it, Jones said. After receiving information from the public, deputies investigated and eventually charged the women with involuntary manslaughter – alleging they committed an illegal act, which unintentionally resulted in death.

Like Rosenstein, Jones said each drug overdose case is different, but all are tough to trace back to a dealer and not every investigation results in criminal charges.

But the agency, he said, investigates “every unattended death and handles them all as if they’re a homicide, until we know different,” Jones said. “We have to – you don’t get a second chance.”

David Reynolds: 343-2075

dave.reynolds@starnewsonline.com