The United States is facing multiple crises under the Biden Administration, including the humanitarian crisis at the Southern border, inflation and the faltering economy, and rising crime rates. Amidst this disarray, the mainstream media is not paying nearly enough attention to one of the most devastating crises in recent memory: the dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths in the United States. We recently exceeded 96,000 deaths from illegal drug use in this country in one 12-month period, which is double the number of overdose deaths in 2014. This large-scale epidemic is in need of immediate attention.
Unfortunately, the crisis at our Southern border is in no small part to blame for these rising numbers as unprecedented amounts of deadly fentanyl pour into our country. In fact, more fentanyl was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the first 5 months of 2021 than in all of 2020. Considering the lethal dose of fentanyl is about 2 milligrams (compared to 30 milligrams of heroin), this is a huge problem for our communities.
Shockingly, peddlers of fentanyl face extremely moderate penalties and sentencing, especially relative to other opiate offenses, like heroin.
Currently, an offense must involve 400 or more grams of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence. Because the lethal dose of fentanyl is about 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 heroin, the offense would have to involve at least 1 kilogram, which contains roughly 10,000 lethal doses. In other words, a criminal that is taken into custody with 350 grams of fentanyl, or 175,00 lethal doses would face a less severe sentence than a criminal caught with 10,000 lethal doses of heroin.
This discrepancy illustrates that current mandatory minimum penalties for fentanyl-related offenses are not sufficient because they are not equivalent to their danger to Americans' health.
For these reasons, I have introduced the Fentanyl Penalties Parity Act, which will increase the severity of fentanyl-related offenses in an effort to cut down on the amount of fentanyl coming to the U.S. and increase the penalties for people convicted of trafficking this deadly drug.
Fentanyl is tearing families apart in what has become the deadliest drug overdose crisis in American history. My bill will bring a sorely-needed increase to the penalty of trafficking deadly fentanyl. | 
