With a new law cracking down on fentanyl, Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said he expects to get longer sentences for fentanyl dealers.
after learning that mandatory-minimum sentences required for other drug offenses did not apply to fentanyl. The measure sailed through the Legislature with bipartisan support, and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it this week.
Set to take effect in July, the new law sets mandatory-minimum sentences ranging from three years to life in prison, depending on the amount of fentanyl involved:At least 10 years for fentanyl greater than 14 grams but less than 28 grams.Life for 56 grams or more.“I think we’re gonna see a lot of mandatory life sentences for drug traffickers, and I think that will work to discourage other people from trafficking in this deadly drug,” he said.
The mandatory-minimums kick in at much lower thresholds than other drugs. For instance, selling as little as 56 grams triggers an automatic life prison sentence. It takes 10 kilograms of cocaine before that punishment becomes mandatory in cocaine cases.“It’s seemingly a small amount of drugs, but when it comes to fentanyl, it’s so deadly,” Blackwood said.
Added Burch: “A lot of the other drugs, you know, are illicit and they’re dangerous drugs. … But they’re not killing people at the rate that fentanyl is killing people.”“We make fentanyl seizures, pretty much weekly in different quantities,” he said. Burch said he believes the new law won’t just take dealers off the streets but push them to sell less-dangerous drugs because of the severe penalties. He said he saw a dip in fentanyl last year after authorities filed homicide charges in two fentanyl overdose cases.
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