People caught with a quarter gram of fentanyl would face one to five years in prison if a measure that passed the Georgia Senate Wednesday goes on to become law.

It’s a tiny amount, but it’s enough to kill 120 people, said Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, in explaining why he sponsored Senate Bill 79.

The measure, which gained approval in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, would lower the threshold prison time based on the amount of the drug possessed.

Under the bill, possession of a quarter gram to four grams could draw a decade in prison. Also, the mandatory minimum prison sentence for trafficking would be much higher than for the same amount of a traditional drug, such as cocaine or heroin.

“If other illegal drugs are a BB gun, fentanyl is a nuclear bomb,” Goodman said. “I say that to say, if you look at the numbers, the people that were killed combined at the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima roughly equals the amount of Americans that die every year from fentanyl.”

A couple hundred thousand were killed by those atomic bombs, while the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency estimates about 107,000 overdose deaths from all drugs in 2023. Still, fentanyl poses an unprecedented threat because trace amounts can be fatal.

Gus and Beth Walters from Valdosta lost their son, Austin, four years ago at the age of 30 when he took a Xanax laced with fentanyl. In their grief, they emailed Goodman hoping to make something meaningful from his death.

Last year, the General Assembly passed Austin’s Law, which makes it a felony to manufacture or sell any substance containing fentanyl that causes a death.

“It’s really healed a wound for us that is deep,” Gus Walters said Wednesday after SB 79 passed 50-3. The bill now goes to the state House of Representatives, which last year amended the Senate’s version of Austin’s Law to exempt manslaughter that resulted from mere possession, noted Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs.

McLaurin and two other Democrats were among the three senators who voted against SB 79. He explained ahead of his vote that he was concerned that the legislation would send people to prison for mere possession and not just for trafficking.

“When you criminalize possession, you are criminalizing addiction … which is a mental health problem, it is a disease,” he said, adding that prison isn’t a great place to overcome addiction. He likened the measure to the War on Drugs in the late 20th century, which was criticized for overwhelming America’s prisons.

Goodman noted that SB 79 only would require mandatory minimum sentencing for possession of four or more grams, which he said is in the realm of trafficking. Judges could order suspended sentences or probation for convictions involving lower amounts, he said.

Gus Walters said after the vote that he’d rather his son had been convicted and jailed than lying in a grave. Beth Walters said the couple believe in addiction recovery.

“We are not saying that you should not have recovery programs. What we’re trying to do is to save lives so they can get to recovery,” she said. “We keep going down the road we’re going down right now. We’re not going to have anybody left to send to recovery.”

McLaurin said he hopes the House does to SB 79 what it did to Austin’s Law last year, downplaying the legal consequences for possession.