As New Jersey seeks harsher punishments for fentanyl possession and dealing, advocates say the new laws risk harming people with addiction

New Jersey lawmakers are advancing a pair of bills that would toughen sentences for fentanyl possession and dealing, which advocates for people who use drugs fear could end up deterring people from reporting overdoses and punish people struggling with addiction.

Under the state’s current law, making or distributing up to one ounce of fentanyl, or about 28 grams, is a second-degree crime punishable by five to 10 years in prison. Under the proposed legislation, making or distributing more than five grams of fentanyl, about 0.17 ounces, would be a first-degree crime, which could land someone in prison for 10 to 20 years.

Another bill would specify that possessing less than 10 grams of fentanyl, or about 0.35 ounces, is a third-degree crime, punishable with three to five years in prison. Possessing more than 10 grams, under the proposed legislation, would also become a first-degree crime.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has replaced much of the country’s heroin supply, and is behind most overdose deaths — which reached a record high in 2021, killing more than 106,000 people nationwide.

Lawmakers say that their goal is not to target drug users. Instead, they are hoping to punish dealers amid a widening overdose crisis, State Sens. Paul Sarlo (D., Bergen) and Joseph Lagana (D., Bergen) wrote in the bill. (Sarlo did not return a call for comment.)

But advocates in New Jersey who work to reduce the harmful effects of drugs say the proposed penalties don’t reflect the reality of drug use in the state, and may deter people from seeking help.

“We already have harsh penalties in place in the state. We already arrest people who sell drugs. That has not changed the demand [for drugs], or prevented overdose death, and there’s no reason this [new bill] would be any different,” said Jenna Mellor, the executive director of the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition (NJHRC). Several NJHC members testified Monday in a hearing on the bill.

Sandy Gibson, an addiction counselor who also serves as the chairwoman of the New Jersey Addiction Professional Association’s Advocacy Committee, said many of her clients don’t buy drugs just for themselves — they’re often buying for friends, as well, so they can use the drugs together.

Harm reductionists often advise people who use drugs to use them around other people, to avoid overdosing alone with no one on hand to help treat an overdose with naloxone or call 911.

“We say to use in groups and stagger your use,” Gibson said. “If you all use the same drug at the same time, and it’s got fentanyl in it, no one’s going to be able to save anyone else.”

Mellor noted in a news release that harm reductionists also fear that higher penalties will increase racial disparities in the criminal justice system. According to a New Jersey Policy Perspective report authored by Mellor, Black New Jerseyans are 3.3 times more likely to be arrested for drug offenses than white residents, “despite white people both using and selling criminalized drugs at higher rates.”

But overdose deaths, she noted, are increasing nationwide among Black Americans — including in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Both bills were advanced by the state Senate judiciary committee this week with a 9-1 vote. They will next be voted on in the Senate budgetary committee.