Des Moines, Iowa — The legislature has approved the governor’s recommendation that sentences be hiked for fentanyl-related crimes.
The bill passed the House four weeks ago on a 91-to-three and Monday night the Senate approved it, 41-to-nine. Those convicted of a crime with 50 or more grams of fentanyl or a related substance could be sentenced to up to 50 years in prison. Senator Jeff Reichman, a Republican from Montrose, says fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine.
Fentanyl is now the leading cause of overdoses in America and opioid-involved deaths in Iowa have increased by 45 percent since 2019.
Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, voted against the bill.
Weiner says fentanyl is a scourge and there’s already another synthetic opioid showing up in American cities. The bill significantly increases the penalty for making or supplying a drug that leads to a fatal overdose. Weiner questions the effectiveness of that, too.
The bill also would let more Iowans distribute doses of naloxone, the drug that can reverse an opioid overdose. State data indicates at least 235 Iowans died of opioid-related causes last year.
