“The sentencing rules for fentanyl don’t reflect the drug’s extreme deadliness. My bill would stop treating the ghouls who deal fentanyl with kid gloves and start using fair and realistic sentencing rules.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act of 2025. The bill would lower the threshold required for mandatory minimum sentencing for fentanyl possession to better reflect the drug’s deadliness.
“The sentencing rules for fentanyl don’t reflect the drug’s extreme deadliness. My bill would stop treating the ghouls who deal fentanyl with kid gloves and start using fair and realistic sentencing rules,” said Kennedy.
Currently, it would take 400 grams of fentanyl—enough to kill roughly 200,000 people—to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. This is inconsistent with fentanyl’s capacity to end lives.
In addition to lowering these thresholds for sentencing fentanyl dealers, the bill would improve the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to screen and intercept fentanyl and other substances imported into the U.S.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) cosponsored the bill.
“Current federal mandatory minimums are drastically out of step with the deadly threat fentanyl poses to American lives. Fentanyl-related overdoses kill 70,000 Americans each year and cause a new 9/11 every two weeks. We know that even a minuscule amount of fentanyl can be lethal. It’s time the federal code treats fentanyl for what it is: a weapon of mass destruction,” said Graham.
“The time is now to stop fentanyl from flowing freely into America and ravaging families and communities around the country. With Senator Kennedy’s and my Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act, we are ensuring that the federal sentencing regime for this deadly substance is better aligned with the threat it poses to the public. It also requires the U.S. Postal Service to increase its chemical screening and dedicate more personnel to interdicting fentanyl. Congress has a duty to act in order to prevent American families from experiencing the deadly destruction of fentanyl firsthand,” said Britt.
Background:
- Fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18-45.
- In fiscal year 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 21,889 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill more than 4.9 billion people (assuming a lethal dose of two milligrams)—or enough to wipe out the entire U.S. population more than 14 times over.
- Kennedy first introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act in March 2023. Senate Democrats blocked the bill in May 2023.
- Also in May 2023, Kennedy penned this op-ed in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser on the importance of Congress’s acting to combat fentanyl trafficking, including by passing his Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act.
- In Jan. 2025, Kennedy backed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which would permanently list fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act.
- In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Kennedy highlighted how the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act would punish fentanyl dealers more appropriately and thus save American lives.
The full bill text is available here.