Legislation stiffening penalties for trafficking in fentanyl in Georgia cleared the General Assembly Friday.
The Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act, which now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature, imposes a range of mandatory minimum sentences on convicted traffickers in fentanyl. The smallest amounts covered by the bill – between four grams and 14 grams, will result in at least five years behind bars.
Fentanyl is so deadly that just four grams of the drug would be enough to kill 2,000 people, House Majority Whip James Burchett, said before Friday’s 131-31 House vote to pass the bill.
“This drug has medicinal value,” said Burchett, R-Waycross. “But it is being illegally imported and utilized by our youth. We have a silent epidemic here.”
The bill’s opponents agreed that fentanyl is a major problem affecting Georgians. But they argued that mandatory minimum sentences have proven ineffective in multiple studies dating back to the 1990s.
“Fentanyl is a scourge. It has caused heartbreaking loss,” said Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta. “(But) mandatory minimums do not work. … They don’t deter the conduct on the front end, which is purportedly what we’re trying to do.”
But House Majority Leader Chuck Efstration countered that adopting mandatory minimum sentences for members of drug gangs who bring fentanyl into Georgia would convince them to take their deadly business elsewhere.
“This measure does a tremendous amount to deter fentanyl operators from operating in our state,” said Efstration, R-Mulberry.
The bill, which had passed the Senate 50-3 last month, cleared that chamber on Friday unanimously. It had gone back to the Senate to agree to changes the House had made to the measure.
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