From: technobarbarian@gmail.com   
      
   "Oregon Democrats would enact stiffer potential criminal penalties for   
   drug possession than they initially planned, under a negotiated bill   
   that could get a hearing as early as Friday.   
      
   In a bid to win support for their wide-ranging proposal to address the   
   state?s addiction crisis, top Democrats have now agreed to allow jail   
   sentences of up to 180 days for people caught with small amounts of   
   drugs like fentanyl, meth and heroin. The party had insisted for weeks   
   that 30 days was more practical, but that idea prompted fierce pushback   
   from Republicans, law enforcement and municipal governments.   
      
   A new version of Democrats? House Bill 4002 ? expected to be released in   
   coming days ? also weakens a provision that would have required police   
   to offer to connect people caught with drugs to treatment rather than   
   bringing them to jail.   
      
   That ?mandatory deflection? was designed to give drug users a choice to   
   avoid a criminal charge. But under the most recent version of the bill,   
   it?s only optional.   
      
   In exchange for the changes, Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Portland, and Rep.   
   Jason Kropf, D-Bend, said Wednesday they expect HB 4002 will find enough   
   support among both parties to pass. And with new buy-in from law   
   enforcement, they hope to defuse a potential ballot measure that   
   proposes a more-severe rollback of the state?s three-year-old drug   
   decriminalization law.   
      
   ?We?ve continued to listen to people,? said Lieber, a former prosecutor,   
   who has helped lead the legislative effort to address addiction. ?We   
   wanted to have a treatment-first plan but we also realized that we   
   needed law enforcement buy-in. Inaction was not an option.?   
      
   The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on the changes. Details of the   
   plan were already being met with disappointment and anger Wednesday from   
   advocacy groups that have urged lawmakers not to end the drug   
   decriminalization policies ushered in by 2020's Measure 110. Some of   
   those groups said they?d been frozen out of discussions as Lieber, Kropf   
   and House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, negotiated terms with   
   Republicans and representatives from law enforcement, cities and   
   counties."   
      
   https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02/21/oregon-democrats-agree-to-   
   stronger-criminal-penalties-for-drug-possession/#:~:text=In%20a%20bid%   
   20to%20win,like%20fentanyl%2C%20meth%20and%20heroin.   
      
       At the upper end using drugs on public transportation would result   
   in a class A misdemeaner, punishable by up to a year in jail. If you   
   read the whole thing it looks like there are still some problems to work   
   out.   
      
   TB   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)