Fentanyl bill passes House will move to Alabama Senate

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A bill to create mandatory minimum sentences for possession of fentanyl has passed the House and will now go forward to a Senate committee.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Baldwin County, impacts a person who sells, makes, delivers, or is knowingly in possession of fentanyl. If passed, one gram of fentanyl would mandate a sentence of three years and up to eight grams of fentanyl would mean a life sentence.

Gov. Kay Ivey and House Republicans have made this bill a priority for the legislative session. House Democrats also say they support the crackdown on the deadly drug. “This isn’t something where somebody cut it up and put it in with hydrocodone or with cocaine or with another drug and just kind of laced that other drug,” Rep. Matt Simpson said. “This is pure fentanyl we’re talking about.”

The bill garnered overwhelming support from the nearly the entire House body.

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