While Washington has a relatively strong drug treatment system, they say, the state has long overlooked funding proactive outreach and long-term recovery. Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of Switzerland and a member of the United Nations Global Commission on Drug Policy, began her comments by expressing “my deep recognition for the quality of the proposed House bill.”, “The free choice of those who control their consumption and don’t harm other should be respected,” Dreifuss said. WASHINGTON — Tamika Spellman, who is in her 50s, has worked as a prostitute since she was 14. The Washington proposal, by contrast, does not include a fine. (function(src,cb){var s=document.createElement('script');s.src=src;s.async=true;if(s.readyState){s.onreadystatechange=function(){if(s.readyState=="loaded"||s.readyState=="complete"){s.onreadystatechange=null;cb();}};}else{s.onload=function(){cb();};}document.head.appendChild(s);})('//player.invintus.com/app.js',function(){Invintus.launch({"clientID":"9375922947","eventID":"2021021226","simple":true});}); Lawmakers and advocates introduced the measure earlier this month, after scrambling to finalize the bill’s language and sponsors. “This late submission has caused great inconvenience,” Goodman, who voted in favor of the bill, said at Monday’s hearing. “We pay for treatment over and over, because insurance covers it, but we fail to fund the outreach on the front end and the recovery support services on the back end that are absolutely foundational to fostering sustained recovery.”. Individuals with past convictions for low-level cannabis activity would see those records expunged, and people currently incarcerated for cannabis crimes would be resentenced or released. “We need to put our money where our mouth is.”. Rajani Gudlavalleti, a member of the executive leadership team at the Baltimore Harm Control Coalition, told the panel that legalization and social equity measures are essential to undo drug-war harms and build healthy communities. And it removes an earlier provision that would have allowed people with past drug convictions to have those records expunged without meeting current law requirements for vacating convictions. Washington State. A campaign to decriminalize drugs and expand substance misuse treatment in Washington State will no longer pursue an effort to place the policy change on the November ballot. In response to questions from skeptical lawmakers about how decriminalization had gone in that country, he argued the country has seen “a clear improvement in all of the indicators available.” Overdose deaths have declined, youth drug use has decreased and the estimated number of people with drug use disorders has fallen, he said. Somerville, Massachusetts, followed suit in January 2021. The text of the legislation did not reference GHB, which is sometimes referred to pejoratively as a “date rape drug,” nor did it provide for the legalization of LSD. They tried to qualify another initiative last year but signature gathering complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic got in the way. In May, Gov. The group placed a legalization measure on the 2018 ballot that was defeated by voters. Washington State Campaign To Decriminalize Drugs Gets Boost From Oregon Victory. While he would have previously been inclined to oppose Dockter’s bill, Pollert said voter approval of a legalization initiative in South Dakota has given him pause, adding that the legislature should “take a long, hard look” at the policy change. The bill would also reserve control of certain ancillary businesses, such as security and delivery services, exclusively for equity applicants. Within minutes, however, Democrats met in a caucus meeting and then moved to reconsider the vote, and Rep. Tina Orwall (D) switched to a “no” vote on the amendment, defeating it. The job, she said, is the most stable work she has had and helped put her son through college. Rep. Tarra Simmons (D), who voted in favor of the change, said that in her experience as someone in recovery, criminalization only prevents people from getting help. “Maryland should follow suit by passing HB 32 this session. — The House Public Safety Committee voted 7–6 to approve the Pathways to Recovery Act, HB 1499, which would remove penalties for “personal… February 16, 2021. Regulators at the state Health Care Authority (HCA) would have until April 1, 2023 to adopt rules and define how much of each drug constitutes a “personal use amount.” A panel consisting of public defenders and prosecutors, along with people who currently use illegal drugs and others who are in recovery, would advise HCA on that decision. The legalization bill would leave the state’s medical marijuana system unchanged, creating a separate agency to oversee the adult-use market. He added that supporters have written to the state attorney general’s office to make sure those rules—specifically around race-based eligibility—are constitutional. It’s a policy that sets them apart from the legislature’s current GOP leadership, which has not endorsed the reform. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis, sparking a trend that spread to a majority of states by 2016. He has covered cannabis as a journalist since 2011, most recently as a senior news editor for Leafly. “I personally would not support anything that did not have some protections for Black people being able to participate in this industry,” said committee Vice Chair Vanessa Atterbeary (D). That money would establish a social equity startup fund, which would provide capital and other resources to equity applicants looking to enter the industry. And it removes an earlier provision that would have allowed people with past drug convictions to have those records expunged without meeting current law requirements for vacating convictions. Hope Wiseman, CEO of Mary and Main, one of the state’s only Black-owned medical marijuana dispensaries, suggested that registration fees be adjusted to reflect that some type of businesses are more lucrative than others. Lewis said when he filed the bill in December that he introduced the legislation “because we have the data and popular opinion on our side to end prohibition.”. The substitute bill also explicitly states that decriminalization wouldn’t prevent employers from establishing or enforcing rules against drug use. Share. The GOP lawmaker first filed a bill to get the policy change enacted in 2019, and then pursued the idea again the next year as an amendment to a spending bill. “The way the bill is currently written,” Rep. Gina Mosbrucker (R) said Monday, “if you walk up to a police officer and hold a bag of heroin or meth or fentanyl—even in front of their face—you can simply walk away. And that seems wrong on so many different levels.”. New Mexico Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Legalization Bill In Committee. In New York, a Senate bill introduced last month would decriminalize low-level possession of any controlled substance and instead levy fines of $50. Others argued that removing penalties could actually hurt drug consumers, “I have seen incarceration save many, many lives,” said Rep. Brad Klippert (R), a military and law enforcement veteran.
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