Lafayette Reporter

Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) has introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act of 2025, aiming to revise mandatory minimum sentencing laws for fentanyl possession. The bill proposes reducing the quantity of fentanyl required to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence, aligning with the drug's lethality.

"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.

Current regulations require possession of 400 grams of fentanyl—an amount capable of killing approximately 200,000 people—to impose a decade-long mandatory sentence. This bill seeks to address this disparity by lowering those thresholds.

The legislation also intends to bolster the U.S. Postal Service's capabilities in screening and intercepting fentanyl and similar substances entering the country. The proposal is co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).

"Current federal mandatory minimums are drastically out of step with the deadly threat fentanyl poses to American lives," stated Graham. "Fentanyl-related overdoses kill 70,000 Americans each year and cause a new 9/11 every two weeks."

Britt added, "The time is now to stop fentanyl from flowing freely into America and ravaging families and communities around the country... Congress has a duty to act in order to prevent American families from experiencing the deadly destruction of fentanyl firsthand."

Fentanyl remains a leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-45. In fiscal year 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to potentially kill over 4.9 billion people.

Kennedy initially introduced this bill in March 2023, though it was blocked by Senate Democrats in May that year. In January 2025, he supported the HALT Fentanyl Act which aims to permanently categorize fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act.

In recent Senate Judiciary Committee discussions, Kennedy emphasized that appropriate punishment for fentanyl dealers could save lives.