The Alabama House overwhelmingly approved a bill Tuesday that would create harsher penalties for possessing and dealing heroin and fentanyl.

In a 100-0 vote, the lower chamber signed off on the legislation, which orders a one-year minimum prison term for possessing heroin or fentanyl -- an opiate cheaper but much more potent than heroin. The two drugs are commonly mixed by dealers because it allows them to stretch out the heroin into more doses.

"That's been a huge problem here in our state because the heroin has been split with fentanyl" and users of the drug aren't aware, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. April Weaver, R-Alabaster.

The maximum penalty under the bill is for trafficking 10 or more kilos of heroin or fentanyl, which carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.

The legislation also deals with synthetic opiates.

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, said she recently lost a family member to a heroin and fentanyl overdose. Todd said there should be more education about the dangers of the cheaper and more powerful opiate, especially on college campuses.

"I don't think many of us understand how more deadly fentanyl is than heroin," she said.