ATLANTA — People caught with more than four grams of deadly fentanyl could spend 10 to 35 years in prison.
The Georgia State Senate voted to toughen those penalties on Wednesday.
Just over a year ago, police couldn’t really charge someone who gave someone else some fentanyl and that person died. Essentially, it was a misdemeanor.
Lawmakers fixed that last year. This year, they want the penalties to match.
Austin Walters died in 2021 after taking a single fentanyl-laced pill. The law that makes it a felony to give someone fentanyl who later dies is named after him.
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On Wednesday, his parents were in the Senate chamber as lawmakers voted on giving those caught with large amounts of fentanyl stiffer sentences.
“It takes so little fentanyl to kill somebody, it needed to be classified separately, and the penalties needed to be stronger because these people need to be sent away,” father Gus Walters told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot.
Cogdell Republican State Sen. Russ Goodman wrote the bill that says if someone is convicted of having four grams of fentanyl, they will receive a minimum of 10 years in prison.
If they are found with more than eight grams, it’s 15 years, 14 grams, it’s 25 years, and if you’re found with more than 28 grams, it’s 35 years.
“I tell people that if other drugs are BB guns, fentanyl is a nuclear bomb,” Goodman said.
But Sandy Springs Democrat Josh McLaurin, while supporting going after those who produce and distribute fentanyl, worries the bill will also go after the addict who he feels needs treatment rather than prison.
“I’m not trying to be offensive when I say this, but the very people that this bill is designed to protect could be charged under this bill,” McLaurin said.
But most Democrats still voted in favor of the measure as it passed easily.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to have our laws and our penalties be more reflective of just how deadly fentanyl is,” Goodman said.
Goodman said four grams of fentanyl is potent enough to kill 2,000 people. His bill now goes to the House.
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