WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Burgess Owens (UT-04) helped introduce the Standardizing Thresholds Of Penalties for (STOP) Fentanyl Act, a bill to reduce the threshold for mandatory minimum penalties for fentanyl-related offenses, putting it on par with quantity thresholds for another deadly drug, methamphetamine.
“The Biden Administration has broken all the wrong records, including over 100,000 overdose-related American deaths,” said Rep. Owens. “Fueled by the historic border crisis, dangerous drugs like fentanyl have poured across the U.S. Southern Border and into communities nationwide, becoming the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45. Last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seized 2 million fentanyl pills and 150 pounds of fentanyl powder in Utah alone. These alarming statistics call for an urgent and resolute action against drug smugglers. I am proud to co-sponsor the STOP Fentanyl Act to harshen the legal penalty for drug traffickers, protect communities from the overflow of fentanyl and help secure our southern border.”
Currently, to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence under the Controlled Substances Act, an offense must involve 400 or more grams of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl. Because the average lethal dose of fentanyl is 2 milligrams, the offense would need to contain roughly 200,000 lethal doses in order to trigger the 10-year mandatory minimum.
The full text of the legislation is available here.
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