Congressman Glenn Grothman has introduced a new measure that he says will help curb the fentanyl trend in the U.S.
He and Indiana Congressman Jim Banks announced the bill known as the Standardizing Thresholds Of Penalties for Fentanyl Act, more commonly referred to as the STOP Fentanyl Act.
The duo explained in a joint statement that this bill would reduce the threshold for mandatory minimum penalties for fentanyl-related offenses, putting it on par with quantity thresholds for another deadly drug, methamphetamine.
Grothman explained in a news release that under current law, in order to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, 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.
By comparison, to trigger the 10-year mandatory minimum for methamphetamine, the offense would have to involve at least 500 grams, which contains roughly 2,500 lethal doses.
According to a Washington Post article, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49.
