Editorial: Lawmakers can reach accord on drug possession law

By The Herald Editorial Board

With state lawmakers expected to return to Olympia later this month to take another swing at passing a better balanced drug possession law, some are suggesting they not start from scratch but return to a version of legislation that passed out of the state Senate in early March.

The legislation crafted during the recently completed 105-day session was intended to respond to the call of city and county officials and others seeking a permanent fix to a state Supreme Court ruling in 2021 that found the state’s felony law on drug possession was unconstitutional because it could convict someone who unknowingly possessed narcotics. The Legislature adopted a stop-gap measure that reinstated possession as a misdemeanor, punishable by jail time of up to 90 days and a $1,000 fine.

That punishment — if it could be prosecuted at all — wasn’t seen as adequate in convincing those found in possession to agree to treatment programs seen as necessary to reducing the incidence of addictions and a rising tide of overdoses and deaths.

Senate Bill 5536, sponsored by state Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, looked like an acceptable deal that would have increased possession to a gross misdemeanor with a stiffer penalty — including up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine — as well as encouragements for diversion programs and other provisions that had bipartisan support in the Senate and broad acceptance from local jurisdictions.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-lawmakers-can-reach-accord-on-drug-possession-law/