TAMPA — A year ago, two young men bought what they believed were Percocet pills from a drug dealer. Both of them overdosed. One of them, 17-year-old Devon Ramos, died.

His death was attributed to the effects of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that in the last decade has come to rival alcohol as the nation’s deadliest substance. Hillsborough sheriff’s investigators learned that the person who sold him the drugs was also 17 — too young to be charged with murder under state laws.

Devon’s was the story that Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister shared in a Wednesday morning news conference that highlighted a recent change to the law, which aims to hold young dealers accountable for the deaths of drug users.

“If he had used a gun, a knife or any other means to take someone’s li

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