Lawmakers in Augusta have scrapped a bill that would have legalized the possession of illicit drugs, including opioids, swapping it out in favor of a plan to study whether decriminalizing hard drugs is a good idea.
The amended legislation establishes a task force responsible for reviewing decriminalization efforts elsewhere in the country and investigating their impact on a range of public health and safety metrics, including the incidence of overdose.
After receiving unanimous committee approval, both chambers of the Legislature voted to advance the amended bill without taking a roll call vote.
Once lawmakers cast their final votes on the legislation, it will be sent to Gov. Janet Mills (D) for a signature.
Originally, this bill — LD 1975 — would have decriminalized the possession of all scheduled drugs and drug paraphernalia, including opioids, hallucinogens, cocaine, and heroin.
It also would have provided additional state support for and access to addiction treatment services.
[RELATED: Some Maine Lawmakers Want to Legalize Possession of All Recreational Drugs, Even Cocaine and Heroin]
During a public hearing held earlier this year, more than four hours worth of testimony was offered, with the fundamental source of disagreement coming down to a disagreement over the most effective way to reduce the prevalence of drug addiction in Maine and how best to support recovery and treatment for those willing to pursue it.
Many of the comments offered in favor of the bill framed the legislation as taking a “public health approach” to treating “substance use disorders” associated with illicit drug use.
“This bill aims to create a state-wide public health-based response to substance use in Maine,” Rep. Lydia V. Crafts (D-Newcastle) said in her testimony introducing the bill. “Our public health approach to LD 1975 aims at helping people rebuild their lives through medical intervention, increased connection and social support. Incarceration impedes this goal.”
Underlying much of the testimony offered in support of LD 1975 on Wednesday was the argument that substance abuse is a medical condition and ought to be treated as such, not as a moral or criminal failing on the part of the addicted individual.
“As a society, we treat people who use illicit drugs differently than we treat people with other substance use disorders,” Rep. Anne Perry (D-Calais) testified before the Committee. “It is time for us to treat drug addiction the way we treat other addictions, and not like a moral failing that needs incarceration to fix. Maine needs a public health response for treating all substance use disorders.”
Those in opposition to the bill agreed that access to treatment and recovery is essential to solving the problem — and that there ought to be a system in place that provides support for those willing to get help — but argued that “enabling” the abuse of controlled substances by decriminalizing their possession is not the way to accomplish that goal.
“Enforcement alone cannot get it done. Removal of consequences and solely focusing on a public health care response will not get it done,” testified Brewer Chief of Police Christopher Martin. “It requires deliberate and pragmatic approaches.”
Those in opposition to the bill, however, emphasized the important role that the illegality of scheduled drug possession plays in allowing those struggling with drug abuse to be redirected toward the resources they need to begin recovering.
“We believe sections of this bill truly move the conversation forward on the issues of funding and treatment,” testified Richard R. Desjardins of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). “However, in our opinion the section of this bill that decriminalizes possession of all drugs, including the most potent and dangerous is taking the wrong direction in reducing deaths and drugs in our state.”
“In my previous experience as a municipal police officer, interacting with individuals charged with simple possession provided the opportunity to work with families, court diversion programs, community based treatment and other resources,” Desjardins said. “These programs frequently had a huge impact in changing behavior.”
Ultimately, members of the Health and Human Services Committee opted to put forward and unanimously endorse an amendment that replaced the bill entirely, substituting in text that establishes the Task Force to Study Changes to the Legal Status of Scheduled Drugs.
The amended version of this bill also contains emergency language, meaning that it will go into effect immediately after it is signed by Gov. Janet Mills (D).
Click Here to Read the Full Text of LD 1975 As Amended
“I continue to stand very firmly behind my initial proposal,” Rep. Crafts said during the final work session on this bill, “and I think that its important that the work we’re doing as a state continues to be framed through a public health lens.”
“I believe that this work is not finished through this task force, and there will be more to do i the future,” Crafts said.
The task force is set to be comprised of sixteen members, including representatives of the “four pillars” — including “harm reduction, prevention, treatment, and recovery” — as requested by Crafts during the bill’s final work session, as well as a representative from a “civil rights organization” focused on “social justice.”
The Attorney General, the Commissioner of the Health and Human Services, and the Commissioner of Public Safety will also serve on the task force.
Additionally, the presidents of the Maine Prosecutors’ Association, the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Maine Sheriffs’ Association, and the Maine Chiefs of Police Association will be included in this task force.
Among the responsibilities of this task force will be reviewing what other states have done with regard to the decriminalization of scheduled drugs and investigating how these changes impact public health and safety, including the the incidence of overdose, interactions with the criminal justice system, access to “substance use disorder treatment,” child welfare, and incidence of domestic violence.
The task force must also review scholarly research on the decriminalization of scheduled drugs and the raising of legal possession limits for illicit substances.
Also among the duties of the task force will be considering “how deflection and diversion from the criminal justice system of individuals with substance use disorders impacts the short-term and long-term outcomes of those individuals.”
The task force will be required to produce a report by November 6, 2024 and present their findings — as requested by Crafts during the final work session — to both the Criminal Justice and Public Safety (CJPS) Committee the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee, along with any recommended legislation.
Both the House and Senate passed the amended version of LD 1975 this week without taking a roll call vote.
This bill will now face final votes in both chambers before being sent to Gov. Mills (D) for a signature, at which point it would go into effect immediately.
This is another horrible bill coming out of Augusta. Oregon just reversed the bill that decriminalized drugs. After three years, they found that it did not work. When will our Democrats and Maine ever learn.
Screw it. Let it burn. Give the Democrats what they want. Conservatives for some reason try to cling onto the old system and uphold it. Let it burn. They control everything and care nothing about your opinions or what you want in society.
They have tried this in BC Canada and in the states.. it will not work. It has failed for them. Keep people high.. so they don’t realize what is going on all around them.lets not go for the obvious. More rehabilitation facilities. More therapy, more mental health. Keep them high
”to study whether decriminalizing hard drugs is a good idea”. Who pays for this? I would laugh but stuff like this expands government at the expense of us taxpayers. Doesn’t anyone deciding these things have any common sense?
Why do we insist on even thinking about adopting policies that have failed elsewhere?
How can you even think of letting a human fall to these levels.
Well if you want to cut down on addictions etc you could start by securing the borders.