It sounds like a great idea.
Drug addicts, whose crimes consist of hurting themselves, shouldn’t go to prison. They should go to treatment.
That’s the sentiment behind a bill pending in the state legislature that would dramatically reduce penalties for possessing illegal drugs, making some of those crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies.
The trouble is, the bill is predicated on a number of misconceptions. We hope legislators vote it down. First, the state’s prisons are not filled to the brim with people whose only crime is using.
Proponents of the penalty reduction measure, Senate Bill 163, say more than 200 people are incarcerated in Colorado prisons for nothing more than drug use.
Prosecutors, who are combing through complex records, tell us the number is more like 10 — 20 at the most — who are first-time felony drug convicts there for use only. The rest also faced other criminal charges, or have lengthy rap sheets.
It’s a key issue, and here’s why:
It costs a lot to send people to prison, and those supporting SB 163 are counting on huge savings from this reform as a source of funding for drug treatment programs. No savings, no treatment.
There are other issues as well.
The criminal justice system’s penalty matrix is complex, and what seems like a simple change from a felony to a misdemeanor would have undesirable ripple effects.
One of them has to do with the state’s drug courts. Although proponents are adamant that their proposed changes would not affect the state’s successful drug courts, which offer robust treatment options, we are persuaded otherwise.
The various drug courts are different, but in Denver’s, a person charged with drug possession can go from facing a felony to a misdemeanor by agreeing to go through drug court and treatment.
Take away that stick, so to speak, and what is their motivation to get clean? Sure, some will choose treatment, but we think a lesser conviction or a dismissed charge, as is the case in some of Colorado’s drug courts, is an important motivator. This bill would undercut drug courts, which are successful.
The other issue is that certain options for hard-core drug abusers are available only if a person is convicted of a felony. We’re talking about community corrections and some of the more intensive residential treatment programs.
If a person is not convicted of a felony, a judge does not have the option of using these programs, which could be an important lifeline for the most troubled addicts.
Another issue centers on the fiscal impact on county jails, which would see more misdemeanor convicts with no prospect of funding to pay for incarceration and treatment.
We are on board with the notion that drug abusers need treatment rather than prison but, unfortunately, this bill is not the right way to get there.
