XPost: or.politics, talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   Who saw that coming?   
      
   A bill rolling back Oregon’s pioneering drug decriminalization law is   
   moving forward in the Legislature, after getting broad support from   
   lawmakers in both parties.   
      
   In a brief hearing on Tuesday evening, a special committee passed out   
   House Bill 4002 in a 10-2 vote. That outcome bodes well for the bill’s   
   chances in the full House of Representatives, where it could get a vote   
   later this week.   
      
   The vote held little of the passionate debate that has characterized   
   discussion of the state’s addiction crisis and how to respond to it. Over   
   hourslong hearings that began last fall, the committee has heard pleas   
   from family members of drug users, police, business owners, advocates,   
   attorneys and others to address the alarming impacts of fentanyl in the   
   state. Often those testifying disagreed on the best course of action.   
      
   On Tuesday, members of the special Joint Committee on Addiction and   
   Community Safety Response were measured and in agreement that they needed   
   to act — even if they weren’t aligned on the particulars.   
      
   “Everybody gave a little bit in this process,” said Sen. Tim Knopp, R-   
   Bend, the Senate minority leader. “We always said that we wanted to have a   
   bipartisan product and I think this is our best opportunity.”   
      
   The bill lawmakers landed on would end the state’s three-year experiment   
   with decriminalization, in which being caught with small amounts of   
   illicit drugs has been punishable by a ticket. The bill would instead make   
   such low-level possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in   
   jail.   
      
   Democrats who crafted the proposal say they’ve built in multiple   
   opportunities for drug users to opt in to treatment in order to dodge   
   criminal consequences and have their records automatically expunged.   
   They’ve sold the bill as a way to give law enforcement more authority to   
   combat public drug use, while at the same time prioritizing public health   
   strategies.   
      
   “The ability to make this an unclassified misdemeanor has given us   
   flexibility to send a message to our courts and our law enforcement   
   partners, our [district attorneys] and our public defenders about what our   
   expectation is,” said state Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, a committee co-chair   
   and an architect of the bill.   
      
   https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02/27/oregons-drug-recriminalization-   
   bill-sails-through-key-committee-heads-for-house-vote/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)