Maine lawmakers vote to decriminalize all drugs

Maine state legislature passed law last week to decriminalize possession of all drugs. The measure, LD 967, was passed by the Maine House of Representatives on Thursday with 77 votes to 62 and was later approved by the state Senate, according to media reports.

The measure would remove criminal penalties for simply possessing planned drugs such as heroin, cocaine and prescription drugs. Instead, those guilty of such offenses would be fined $ 100 or undergo a substance-use disorder treatment exam.

Maine voters legalized cannabis for adults aged 21 and over in 2016, and legal recreational marijuana sales in the state began last year. Possession of other regulated drugs is subject to a variety of criminal charges and penalties for offenses for most prescription drugs and crimes for possession of heroin and cocaine.

The bill was introduced earlier this year by the Democratic State MP Anne Perry. Legislators will continue to work on the bill to address differences in legislation, including the criminal charges for subsequent property offenses that are included in the Senate version of the bill.

“We have to address this disorder and law enforcement will be part of it, but law enforcement is not the gateway to recovery,” Perry said in the House of Commons last week. “It’s a gateway to isolation and suicide.”

Maine follows Oregon’s lead

LD 967 was modeled after an initiative by Oregon voters last year that decriminalized all drugs for personal use. The approach is favored by advocates of criminal law reform and harm reduction who work to ensure that illicit drug use is treated as a public health issue rather than a crime.

“For over 20 years, working as a nurse and in a community devastated by drug overdose, I’ve seen firsthand how drug treatment like a crime leads to suffering that spans generations,” Perry told a press conference on the bill Beginning of the year. “I’ve seen so many people get lost to the criminal justice system instead of getting the health care they so desperately need.”

“We cannot go on waging a ‘war on drugs’ that has not worked,” she added.

State MP Charlotte Warren, also a Democrat, said several doctors who specialize in substance use disorders appeared at a legislative hearing earlier this year and testified that the condition is treatable and preventable, but incarceration is not an effective cure. Instead, they asked for treatment rather than punishment.

“Eleven Mainers die from an overdose a week,” Warren told reporters. “Disorder is a disease. And a symptom of the disease is possession of the substance. That is why the House voted not to criminalize property any more. We have to treat the disease to save lives. What we are doing is not working. We want to save lives. “

Democratic Governor Janet Mills, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, law enforcement and Republican lawmakers are all opposed to LD 967, which leaves the final passage of the bill uncertain. Opponents of the bill cite the lack of property restrictions and criminal charges against repeat offenders for their refusal to endorse the proposal.

“These people need help and law enforcement is the best social worker to help these people,” said Rep. Gary Drinkwater.

A drug trafficking reform was also passed in Maine

Also last week, Maine lawmakers passed LD 1675, a bill to reform the state’s strict drug trafficking law and eliminate the different penalties for possession of crack and cocaine powder. The bill was passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and survived a 20–15 vote in the Senate the following day. The measure will now go to Mills’ office for review.

“This bill would restore the integrity, honesty and clarity of our drug laws,” Senator Craig Hickman said after the vote, noting that anyone who possesses two or more grams of heroin or fentanyl can be charged with no evidence of intent in drug trafficking. “This bill will curb a government that is too quick and easy to play with the English language, a government that redefines ordinary words to restrict the freedom of ordinary people.”