On Thursday, the Alabama House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of legislation to substantially increase the length of sentences for persons convicted of trafficking fentanyl in the state.
House Bill 1 (HB1) is sponsored by State Representative Matt Simpson.
“This is going after the distributors, the trafficker, the people bringing this into the communities,” Simpson explained.
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid that was designed to make hospital patients unconscious during surgery. It has become the drug of choice for drug dealers as it is cheap, plentiful, highly addictive, and produces a very powerful high. Opioids, and especially fentanyl, have resulted in a massive increase in the number of Americans dying from drug overdoses. A recent report showed 107,000 Americans were killed by drug overdoses in the last 12 months.
Rep. Terri Collins said, “Thank you for bringing this bill.”
“I have had so many people call me about this,” Collins said. “It is a weapon of mass destruction. Having strong penalties are so important.”
HB1, as written, sets the amounts of fentanyl that would constitute trafficking under Alabama law and the sentences in the Alabama criminal code for being caught smuggling or distributing those amounts in the state.
Rep. John Rogers said, “I like this bill. I heard on Channel 13 that just a little residue of fentanyl in a pocket can be harmful for a child. In Birmingham, a child gave away some candy at school, and they had to send seven kids to the hospital because of fentanyl residue.
“I am very excited about your bill,” Rogers said. “Can it be mixed with the water, like at the waterworks?
Simpson replied, “I don’t think that fentanyl is soluble in water.”
“Your bill is very good,” Rogers said. “Last week in Birmingham, five people died of fentanyl overdose, and they did not know they had fentanyl.”
Simpson said, “We are trying to educate the public. The attorney general has negotiated a $300 million opioid case verdict. That is going to be used to educate the public. Half is going to the cities, and half going to the counties.”
Some drug dealers lace other drugs like marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, counterfeit prescription drugs, and even candies with fentanyl to increase their clientele.
Rogers said, “We have got people selling these dirty, dirty drugs. We have got people saying I don’t want regular marijuana. They want that dirty, dirty stuff. It smells really bad. I can smell it walking down the street in Birmingham.”
Simpson said that his bill targets traffickers, not street dealers.
“This is not the guy on the street,” Simpson said. “This is the main traffickers.”
“I do have it broken down by weight,” Simpson said. “Just two milligrams is a lethal dose.”
Rogers said, “Kids are getting it. That is what scares me more than anything else.”
State Rep. Thomas Jackson said, “I want to commend you for bringing this bill. I am from southwest Alabama. Baldwin County has a problem. The state has a problem. We don’t know how many people we know who may die from this. We need to make them pay a price so deep that they never see the light again.”
“We have had friends in our community that died from fentanyl,” Rep. Thomas said. “We have got a problem at the south border, and if we don’t curtail it now, we are going to lose so many people.”
State Rep. Barbara Drummond has successfully sponsored legislation to limit the sale of vaping products to minors.
Drummond said, “I am an advocate for young people and vaping. This piece of legislation is so important. Recently a young person’s vape pipe was laced with fentanyl. This stuff is coming out of China, and it is so dangerous.”
HB1 passed the House 105 to 0. The passage was followed by a standing ovation on the floor of the House.
101 members of the House signed on as co-sponsors.
Alabama Today asked Simpson how much prison time someone caught with 100 pounds of fentanyl would get under this.
“Life,” Simpson replied. “This stuff is so dangerous that if police officers even get it on their hands, they are having (health) problems.”
The bill had the support of every single member, and 101 of the 105 signed on as co-sponsors.
“The biggest message I got from today is that this is bipartisan,” Simpson said. “That shows how dangerous fentanyl is in our communities.”
Simpson explained to reporters that the bill addresses pure fentanyl, not fentanyl mixed with other drugs.
“The code already has mixtures in the statute,” Simpson said. “If you have a gram of pure fentanyl that could kill 500 people.”
Simpson said that the bill sends a message to drug traffickers.
“We wanted them to know we are coming after you, and you are going to go to jail for a long time,” Simpson said.
“One pill can kill you,” Simpson said. “Fentanyl is fifty to a hundred times more powerful than morphine. When you talk to pathologists, they will tell you that 80% of overdose deaths are fentanyl.”
Simpson said that he has talked with the Attorney General, and the state’s half of the opioid settlement should go to educate the public on the dangers of fentanyl and for drug treatment.
“Once somebody gets on fentanyl, we need to spend the money to get people off of fentanyl,” Simpson said.
Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter said that passing HB1 and the bill overhauling adoption laws were his two biggest priorities for the session.
“We have changed lives for generations to come with these two bills,” Ledbetter said. “These were my top two priorities. I am excited to get those two major bills passed out of the House.”
Reporters asked Speaker Ledbetter what the difference was between fentanyl and drugs that came before, like cocaine.
“The difference is how deadly it is,” Ledbetter replied. “There is enough fentanyl coming across our borer to kill every man, woman, and child in the United States.
Simpson is an attorney and former prosecutor who serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Legislative Council.
The legislation now moves on to the Alabama Senate for their consideration.
“April Weaver is going to carry it in the Senate,” Simpson said. “She reached out to me months ago and asked to help carry it. In Shelby County, she has a lot of issues where she lives.”
Thursday was the fourth legislative day of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session.
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