1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I'm asking you to veto HB2132, sponsored by Representative Quang Nguyen. This bill lowers the mandatory sentencing threshold for fentanyl sales from 200 grams to 100 grams and imposes prison terms of 5 to 15 years, or 10 to 20 years for repeat offenders. Harsher mandatory sentences are not the answer to our fentanyl problem. The evidence is clear: mandatory minimums don't reduce drug trafficking. They fill prisons without addressing the root causes of addiction or the supply chain. Arizona already has the seventh-highest incarceration rate in the nation. We don't need to lock up more people for longer when the fentanyl crisis is already trending downward. HB2132 will cost taxpayers millions in additional incarceration costs while doing nothing to make our communities safer. What works is treatment, harm reduction, and targeting the cartels that manufacture and distribute fentanyl. Mandatory sentences tie judges' hands and prevent them from considering individual circumstances. This is bad policy that will make Arizona's mass incarceration problem worse without solving the crisis it claims to address. Veto this bill.