Revising CA's Drug Penalty: Time to Treat the Problem
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When we stop spending millions of dollars a year to incarcerate Californians whose only crime is addiction, we will free up funding that can be used to help more people get the treatment they need.
This is the logic behind Senate Bill 1506 (D-Leno), which passed its first hurdle yesterday when it won a majority of votes in the Senate Public Safety Committee. SB 1506 proposes to revise the state's penalty for drug possession for personal use from a felony to a misdemeanor.
The debate lasted about 45 minutes – a fairly hearty discussion by Sacramento standards!
A wide, determined and uber-articulate swath of supporters stepped up to launch the conversation through their experiences as law enforcement, civil rights leaders, physicians, community and youth advocates, and faith leaders.
Senator Leno implored his colleagues to move away from expensive, excessive, counter-productive jail sentences toward a smarter and more effective approach, and to implement the will of California voters, 72% of whom endorsed the reform across party lines in a 2011 Lake Research survey.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón emphasized that lengthy sentences for drug possession actually increase the chances that a person will return to jail or prison, and that a felony conviction creates barriers to successful community reintegration. SB 1506 will change these dynamics and increasepublic safety, explained the District Attorney.)
Dr. Lee Snook of the California Society of Addiction Medicine explained that based on the best evidence and experience with patients struggling with the disease of addiction, the threat of a felony conviction does not encourage people to enter treatment or to stay in treatment.
The fear-inspiring quote of the day came from Nick Warner, lobbyist for the California State Sheriffs' Association, and one of the three people who spoke against the bill. This is too far, too fast, and we think it's a public safety mistake," warned Warner. But thirteen other states, the District of Columbia and the federal government already punish simple possession as a misdemeanor and not a felony. And these locales have slightly lower crime rates than felony states and slightly higher rates of people entering treatment. The evidence is already in.
Senator Leno agreed to continue working with the Sheriffs to try to bring them into support.
In the end, Senators Hancock, Liu, Calderon and Steinberg voted in support. Senator Price abstained and the committee's two Republicans, Senators Anderson and Harman, voted against.
To learn more about the bill, and to see a list of 60 supporting organizations ranging from the NAACP to the California Hepatitis Alliance to La Raza Roundtable, click here.
Learn more:
Revising Penalties for Simple Drug Possession
Margaret Dooley-Sammuli is senior policy advocate with the Criminal Justice and Drug Policy project of the ACLU of California.
