PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill that would stiffen penalties for selling a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Republican State Senator Doug Mastriano, who is behind the legislation, says there were more than 5,000 fentanyl overdoses in Pennsylvania last year, averaging between 13 and 15 a day.
“According to the latest numbers from the Pennsylvania commission on sentencing, the average offender convicted under the statute received a sentence of less than five years,” he said. “A significant number of these offenders got off with no jail time at all.”
Mastriano’s bill would require a 10-year minimum sentence for anyone who profits off the sale of a deadly dose of fentanyl. He says it’s written to focus on dealers and carves out protections for someone who is sharing the drug and not trying to make money off of it.
But Philadelphia Democrat Sharif Street says mandatory minimums are not the answer to the fentanyl crisis.
“What it will do is increase the jail stays for the least serious crimes,” Street said. “We've gone down the road of mandatory minimums in the past, it did not work.”
Street says there are recently adopted enhancements for the sale of fentanyl, which allows judge’s discretion in sentencing.
The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support 35-14 and is heading to the State House.