as fentanyl drives a majority of Overdose deaths in the state a group of lawmakers want to toughen penalties against dealers moving a bill in Trenton yesterday that'll make manufacturing or Distributing more than five grams of the deadly substance of first-degree crime but critics warn more penalties will hurt the very people lawmakers want to help Ted Goldberg has the latest I can't fathom that there's any better solution than increasing the penalties here the Senate budget and Appropriations Committee has advanced a bill that would increase fines and prison time for people caught with certain quantities of fentanyl if the bill becomes law it would be a first degree felony to make or sell 10 grams which could lead to a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years we want to keep those with mental health and addiction out of jail this is targeting people who are selling large five grams is a large quantity of Tylenol the Amendments make it clear not users but somebody who is selling it five grams of fentanyl which will kill people this bill would also make it a second degree felony to possess five to ten grams of fentanyl which corresponds to a likely prison sentence of five to ten years people testified in Trenton yesterday against the proposed legislation explaining that just because you have five grams on you doesn't make you a large-scale drug dealer if we were pulled over on the way home I would no you wouldn't because you weren't selling it you were a user man but that you can't tell the difference I would have 10 grams on me that's five grams that is not a lot of anything and yes fentanyl is strong but opioid use comes with a buildup of Tolerance the amount I had to use every day steadily increased right so what did I do to manage my own Supply I sold drugs I'm in high school right as this bill is described I'm selling fentanyl as a high school student and would be one of those kingpins according to State data more than 3 000 people in New Jersey died from drug overdoses last year and more than 1200 people have died so far in 2023 fentanyl has increasingly been blamed on overdose deaths over the last few years and people like Kelly labarr say people who sell drugs on a street level don't have much control over the amount of fentanyl I didn't know it was in the supply I had no way of figuring that out I was too busy trying to figure out my own way around opiate use disorder the drug Supply is so contaminated that you are going to lock up everybody you are going to lock up everybody who uses drugs who is a low-level dealer activists also call this new bill a continuation of War on Drugs policy and say people dealing with addiction will be more afraid to ask for help they won't call 9-1-1 when someone when someone dies because of law enforcement they won't seek help because of fear of law enforcement this bill compounds the street level fear of law enforcement despite the opposition the bill passed committee without a single no vote but Senator Patrick Digman said his likely yes vote turned into an abstention after hearing the pushback this is probably the first time that I have actually had my decision changed based on a on the testimony of The Advocates and I want to congratulate all of you for the courage of coming forward today it really is an intellectually disingenuous argument that we're hearing that we're going to be punishing those who were suffering from substance use disorder we're here to penalize those who are dealing death in our communities there's no accompanying bill in the assembly so it will probably take a while for this bill to become law for NJ Spotlight news I'm Ted Goldberg [Music]