{"id":36074,"date":"2023-03-09T19:23:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T00:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/move-to-loosen-penalties-for-drug-ingestion-marijuana-edibles-fails-in-senate\/"},"modified":"2023-03-09T19:23:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T00:23:32","slug":"move-to-loosen-penalties-for-drug-ingestion-marijuana-edibles-fails-in-senate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/move-to-loosen-penalties-for-drug-ingestion-marijuana-edibles-fails-in-senate\/","title":{"rendered":"Move to loosen penalties for drug ingestion, marijuana edibles fails in Senate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/p>\n

Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sen. John Wiik, R-Big Stone City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Move to loosen penalties for drug ingestion, marijuana edibles fails in Senate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Felony punishments fail to help addicts or community, sponsor argues<\/p>\n

BY:\u00a0JOHN HULT<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 FEBRUARY 22, 2023\u00a06:25 PM<\/p>\n

The South Dakota Senate rejected two bills Wednesday that aimed to soften controversial drug laws.<\/p>\n

One sought to help drug users avoid prison for failed drug tests; the other would have placed marijuana edibles and vape products in the same misdemeanor category as marijuana flower.<\/p>\n

Felony ingestion<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Senate Bill 201<\/a>, which failed by a single vote, would have altered a law that lets judges levy felony penalties for drug ingestion. The potential for prison time would only appear on a third offense.<\/p>\n

South Dakota is the only state with a separate and specific statute for felony ingestion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Rohl, R-Aberdeen,\u00a0has sponsored similar bills<\/a>\u00a0on ingestion in the past. This time, Rohl amended his original bill on the day of its committee hearing with a rewrite that changed it from a proposal covering marijuana alone to one that covered indigestion of all types.<\/p>\n

Rohl told lawmakers that Arizona allows for misdemeanor or felony penalties under a drug law that penalizes \u201cpossession or use.\u201d Ten other states charge ingestion as a misdemeanor, he said, and 38 have no penalty for ingestion, a charge that typically follows a failed urinalysis or blood test.<\/p>\n

Rohl said treatment is a better option than prison for drug users, particularly in light of South Dakota\u2019s high rate of incarceration for drug crimes. Around 15% of women imprisoned in South Dakota are serving time for ingestion alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rank towards the bottom in terms of individuals who are arrested for drug crimes,\u201d Rohl said. \u201cWe are the number one state in terms of people who are in prison for drug crimes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight)<\/p>\n

Rohl also cited the law\u2019s disparate impact on Native Americans. In a state where less than 10% of the population is Native American, he said, 52% of the prisoners incarcerated for ingestion are Native.<\/p>\n

Adjusting the law to focus on treatment would lead to better outcomes for addicts, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAddiction is something that goes beyond a crime. It\u2019s an illness,\u201d Rohl said.<\/p>\n

Opponents accused Rohl of sneaking the amendment onto the floor by introducing his amendment on the day of the bill\u2019s Health and Human Services Committee hearing last week. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City, told senators that Attorney General Marty Jackley opposes the bill and would have said so if not for the last-minute nature of the amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the way to introduce controversial legislation: without even hearing opposition, and totally avoiding the Judiciary Committee,\u201d said Duhamel, who chairs that committee.<\/p>\n

Duhamel was among those who argued that people would swallow drugs before a traffic stop or jail booking to avoid a felony charge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last year, we have overdoses in our jails with people who swallow drugs before they were arrested,\u201d said Duhamel, who works as spokeswoman for the Pennington County Jail.<\/p>\n

Others noted that ingestion can be the crime of last resort for prosecutors who can\u2019t make other charges stick.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sen. John Wiik, R-Big Stone City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight)<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically, our statistics look horrible. They do. But it\u2019s a tool that our state\u2019s attorneys are using,\u201d said Sen. John Wiik, R-Big Stone City. \u201cA lot of times there\u2019s a lot of things people are charged with, but the one thing you cannot dispute is the drugs in their system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohl countered by saying that his amendment was posted the morning before his bill\u2019s committee hearing, that the bill still allowed for penalties when warranted, and that overdoses are exacerbated by the current law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have instances of individuals that need medical attention and do not seek it because they will get a felony,\u201d Rohl said. \u201cAnd when our system is designed in such a way that the person would rather risk death than seek help, I think we need to evaluate how we\u2019re helping these people, and how we can create a stronger community going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill failed on a vote of 18-17.<\/p>\n

Marijuana laws<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rohl\u2019s other proposal,\u00a0Senate Bill 205<\/a>, sought to remove marijuana products from the list of felony-eligible drugs in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, a person caught with up to 2 ounces of marijuana flower can be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Someone caught with a single marijuana gummy can be charged with a felony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is taking the equivalent amount of up to 1 ounce of marijuana and saying we\u2019re going to charge that as a class 1 misdemeanor,\u201d Rohl said.<\/p>\n

Chicago rapper Chief Keef was famously charged with a felony after being caught with edibles at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport in 2017. The rapper\u00a0pleaded no contest<\/a>\u00a0to the charge in 2019.<\/p>\n

Rohl said he was simply working to align state law to treat cannabis products equally for those who keep drugs for personal use. Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, who ultimately voted for SB 201 and SB 205, told senators that current law unfairly penalizes a particular form of cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already say small amounts of marijuana is a misdemeanor. That\u2019s been the law for decades. But if you have one gummy in your pocket, that\u2019s a felony.\u201d Wheeler said. \u201cTwo ounces of marijuana\u00a0 is a lot more than one gummy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Diedrich, R-Rapid City, also decried the current law as inequitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would one be charged out at the felony level of fentanyl, where the other would be charged out as a misdemeanor?\u201d Diedrich said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sen. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen, pleaded with the body not to loosen drug laws. He cited a report from the Department of Public Safety that noted a spike in overdose deaths in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do this, it will increase individual usage,\u201d Novstrup said.<\/p>\n

Other opponents said prosecutors have and exercise discretion in cases involving marijuana edibles.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw enforcement, judges and prosecutors have judicial discretion, especially for the small amounts,\u201d Duhamel said. \u201cThey find someone who has two gummies in their purse who\u2019s left Colorado, they are not sending them to the penitentiary.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 205 failed on a vote of 21-14.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Move to loosen penalties for drug ingestion, marijuana edibles fails in Senate<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight Sen. John Wiik, R-Big Stone City. (Makenzie Huber\/South Dakota Searchlight) Move to loosen penalties for drug ingestion, marijuana edibles fails in Senate Felony punishments fail to help addicts or community, sponsor argues BY:\u00a0JOHN HULT\u00a0\u2013 FEBRUARY 22, 2023\u00a06:25 PM The South Dakota <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> March 9, 2023<\/p>\n

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