An important drug decriminalization and treatment bill in Washington state cleared its first legislative hurdle on Monday, with a panel of lawmakers voting to advance the measure, hours before an important deadline.
The House Public Safety Committee voted 7-6 to approve the Pathways to Recovery Act, HB 1499, which would remove fines for “personal use” amounts of illegal substances and extend outreach and repair services. The vote is the first time a panel of lawmakers in a U.S. state has voted to lift criminal penalties for drug possession.
“This bill is an allegation that drug use disorder is treatable brain disease from which people recover,” said main sponsor Rep. Lauren Davis (D) said before the vote. “This bill is about reaching every person who lives with drug use disorders, before they ever touch the criminal justice system.”
Voters in neighboring Oregon passed a similar measure last year, extending treatment and replacing criminal fines for small amounts of drugs with a $ 100 fine or referral to treatment. The Washington proposal, on the other hand, does not contain a fine.
Instead, the outreach and recovery services would be drastically expanded, which is part of what supporters call a holistic “continuum of care” to support people with drug use disorders. While Washington has a relatively strong drug treatment system, they say, the state has long overlooked funding proactive outreach and long-term recovery.
“We are funding one leg of a tripod crutch,” Davis said at an earlier committee hearing Friday that lawmakers testified about the proposal. “We pay over and over for treatment because insurance covers it, but we can not finance the outreach at the front and the recovery support services at the back, which is absolutely fundamental to promoting sustained recovery.”
See how lawmakers and advocates discuss the drug decriminalization bill below:
Lawmakers and advocates introduced the measure earlier this month after scrambling to finalize the language and sponsors of the bill. Organizers at Treatment First Washington originally planned to put the proposal to last year’s vote, but the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the effort to collect the signature, and last summer the group announced they would rather pass the proposal to lawmakers would take.
–
Marijuana Moment has been monitoring more than 600 bills on cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy in lawmakers and Congress this year. Patreon fans who promise at least $ 25 a month get access to our interactive charts, maps and audience calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana account tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to gain access.
–
Despite attracting two dozen house sponsors (including a lone Republican, Representative Carolyn Eslick), HB 1499 was almost non-existent. Following the committee hearing Friday, President Roger Goodman (D)’s chairman told Marijuana Moment that the panel was unlikely to move the measure because it was introduced too late in the session. By Sunday, however, it had been added to the committee’s schedule.
“This late submission caused great inconvenience,” Goodman, who voted in favor of the bill, said during the hearing Monday. “On behalf of the rest of the committee, I apologize.”
The hearing of the bill on Monday was also not particularly smooth. The panel initially approved an amendment that would remove the decriminalization section of the bill, which would more or less destroy the general thrust of the legislation. Within minutes, however, the Democrats met in a caucus meeting and then again decided to reconsider the vote, and Representative Tina Orwall (D) switched to a “no” vote on the amendment and defeated it.
Eventually, the panel proceeded with an updated version of the bill, which contained a number of changes to the original. The replacement legislation presupposes the implementation of decriminalization for six months, from 1 December 2022 to 1 July 2023.
Regulators at the State Health Care Authority (HCA) have until 1 April 2023 the opportunity to adopt rules and determine how much of each remedy is an ‘amount for personal use’. A panel of public defenders and prosecutors, along with people currently using illegal drugs and others recovering, will advise HCA on the decision.
The replacement bill also explicitly states that decriminalization will not prevent employers from drafting or enforcing anti-drug rules. And it removes an earlier provision that would allow people with drug convictions in the past to remove the records without complying with the current legal requirements for the evacuation of convictions. Individuals can still waive their convictions under the bill, but they will not be exempt from the existing rules.
Watch the committee debate and vote on the drug decriminalization bill below:
Opponents have argued that HB 1499 goes too far by removing the threat of criminal sanctions.
Gina Mosbrucker (R) said on Monday: “Like walking to a police officer and holding a bag of heroin or meth or fentanyl – even in front of your face – you can simply walk away. And it looks wrong on so many different levels.”
Others have argued that lifting fines could hurt drug users. “I have seen that incarceration saves many, many lives,” says Rep. Brad Klippert (R), a veteran of the military and law enforcement.
Mosbrucker and Klippert both voted against the bill along with representatives Jenny Graham (R), Dan Griffey (R), John Lovick (D) and Jesse Young (R).
Rep. Tarra Simmons (D), who voted in favor of the change, said that criminalizing in her experience as someone who recovers prevents people from just getting help.
“As a person who is now recovering 9 1/2 years after drug use disorder which includes opiates, methamphetamine and marijuana,” she said, “I remember I wanted help but was scared because it was a crime.”
Despite hesitation by some in law enforcement, others said the bill made sense. Lawyer Dan Satterberg, King County, told lawmakers that prosecuting people for such small amounts of drugs “simply is not an effective strategy” to combat deaths from use or overdose.
“It’s a gram,” he said, holding up a single packet of Splenda to highlight the relatively small amounts of hard drugs that would be allowed under the bill. “It’s not an ounce, it’s not a kilo. This is a small, small amount that corresponds to the need to use drugs daily. ”
A number of international medical experts also weighed in during the trial last week. Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of Switzerland and a member of the United Nations World Commission on Drug Policy, began her comment by ‘giving my deepest credit for the quality of the proposed House Bill’.
“The free choice of those who control their consumption and do not harm others must be respected,” Dreifuss said. “For those who are addicted, addiction to treatment must be guaranteed.”
João Augusto Castel-Branco Goulão, the national medicine coordinator for Portugal, the first country to decriminalize all drugs, also spoke in favor of the bill.
Asked by skeptical lawmakers about the decriminalization of the country, he argued that the country “saw a clear improvement in all available indicators”. Deaths from overdoses have decreased, drug use among young people has decreased and the estimated number of people with drug use disorders has decreased, he said.
The next step for the bill is the House Rules Committee and then possibly a full floor vote.
Some other state legislators are also considering similar reforms. A Kansas lawmaker introduced a measure late last week to replace simple drug possession criminal fines with a $ 100 fine. People caught using drugs other than marijuana will be referred to mandatory treatment, and the failure to to comply with it would be an offense.
In New York, a Senate bill passed last month would decriminalize possession of any low-level controlled substance and impose fines of $ 50.
Activists across the country have also pursued a more targeted model of decriminalization to weaken the application of laws against psychedelics, such as psilocybin and ibogaine.
A Republican lawmaker in Iowa last week filed a bill to remove psilocybin from the list of controlled substances.
In California, a lawmaker said late last year that he plans to introduce a bill that would decriminalize psychedelics. And activists hope to see further legislation to remove criminal fines for simple drug possession in general.
Legislators in Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Virginia are also considering bills on psychedelic reform and drug policies for the 2021 session.
In Washington, Goodman, the chairman of the committee that approved the decriminalization bill Monday, told Marijuana Moment that the state will “keep pushing hard and ride this wave.”
“The state of Washington will take the lead if we end the drug war,” he said.
New Mexico lawmakers approve marijuana legal bill in committee
Marijuana moment is made possible with the support of readers. If you trust our cannabis advocacy journalism to stay up to date, you may want to consider a monthly Patreon pledge.
