Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act — Fentanyl Mandatory Minimums

SB 79, the Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act, creates new mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl-related offenses. The bill establishes harsh penalties based on drug weight thresholds, regardless of individual circumstances or role in distribution.

GPS opposes this bill because mandatory minimums for drug offenses have been thoroughly discredited as a strategy for reducing drug use or trafficking. Decades of the War on Drugs have shown that harsh sentences do not reduce drug supply or demand — they simply fill prisons with low-level offenders while major traffickers adapt. The fentanyl crisis is a public health emergency that requires treatment, harm reduction, and community-based solutions, not more incarceration.