Local chiefs, sheriff drafting hard drugs law

Measure a hedge if Legislature misses July 1 deadline; Inslee open to special session if lawmakers cooperate

Cowlitz County law enforcement officials are trying to do what state legislators failed to do after playing politics with public safety — adopt a law that continues to penalize hard drug possession.

Washington’s Legislature adjourned after failing to adopt a new drug possession law to replace a makeshift measure that expires July 1 — and that has proven almost completely unworkable.

Gov. Jay  Inslee should call a special session to get lawmakers back to do their job. If he doesn’t, there is a chance that possessing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, meth or any other hard drug will become completely legal in two months.

The governor’s office Monday put the pressure on the Legislature.

“The governor will call a special session once legislative leaders on the Democratic and Republican side believe they have a proposal that has the votes to pass,” Inslee’s office stated Monday. “Until then, he remains engaged with them and is reminding them of the urgency and importance of reaching a compromise.”

The uncertainty has led law officials around the state to consider writing their own local drug possession laws as a hedge against state inaction.

“We frankly do not want to wait on the state,” Longview Police Chief Robert Huhta told me Monday. “Our community has suffered long enough. I  don’t want to not have a law in place come July.”  

A proposal drafted last week by all five Cowlitz police chiefs and Sheriff Brad Thurman would make hard drug possession a gross misdemeanor. (Misdemeanors carry up to $1,000 fines and 90 days in jail, while gross misdemeanors are punishable with up to 364 days in jail and $5,000 fines.) In this respect, the proposal mirrors a compromise drug possession bill that passed the Senate but failed in the House, where Democrats have a 58-40 majority. All Republicans and 15 Democrats opposed the bill, which also would have appropriated millions toward treatment, housing and support for people with substance use disorder.

Each city council and the Cowlitz County Commissioners would have to approve the proposal for their own jurisdictions. In at least Longview’s case, the City Council must act by May 25 for the proposal to take effect by July 1.

The Legislature’s failure to settle the matter has led to finger-pointing that revolves around a central question: Should drug possession be treated as a crime or a medical problem in need of treatment? 

It’s acknowledged that the war on drugs has failed and that traditional, felony-level adjudication of drug possession stigmatizes people, makes finding jobs, homes and recovery more difficult, and disproportionately affects the poor and minorities.

However, few drug users seek and achieve reform without the threat of jail time or punishment to scare them into treatment. Oregon’s well-publicized struggles with its two-year-old, voter-approved drug decriminalization law helps prove this point. Most recovered addicts will admit they would not have cleaned up  without the threat of incarceration and compulsory treatment.

It’s also time to put away the bleeding-heart notion that drug use is a victimless crime. Drug users hurt themselves and their families. They steal or commit or encourage other crimes. They become a huge burden on the medical and judicial systems.

Drug possession ‘has been a free for all. The law in place has no teeth to it whatsoever. It is a broken system’ — Longview Police Chief Robert Huhta

A mid-range approach is warranted in which the real threat of punishment forces drug users to accept treatment. 

“We understand that treatment is a necessary part” of drug enforcement,  Huhta said. “We believe that should come through the courts” in a form similar to  Cowlitz Drug Court, where felony cases are handled.

“We believe that is a viable option for District Court,” where misdemeanor cases are handled, Huhta said.

Longview City Manager Kris Swanson has raised the possibility of using some of the local shares of the Big Pharma opioid settlement to fund drug treatment.

Under current state law, adopted in 2021,  anyone caught with hard drugs is charged with a simple misdemeanor — but only after a third offense. For the first two possession “offenses,” police must refer the person to treatment instead of citing them. 

Yet there is no state database to track whether a suspect has been previously advised to get treatment. The law is so unworkable that police and county prosecutors have virtually stopped pursuing drug possession cases.  

Drug possession, Huhta said,  “has been a free for all. The law in place has no teeth to it whatsoever. It is a broken system. You get ‘Get out of jail free’ passes for the first couple offenses, and there is no requirement to even make a phone call” to inquire about treatment.

“Our community has suffered with these drug law changes the last couple years,” he said.

The Legislature adopted the 2021 measure as a stopgap after the state Supreme Court found parts of the state’s drug possession law unconstitutional.

Huhta said any new state law would supplant any locally adopted drug possession law, and he’d prefer that the Legislature solve the problem with its own bill  — “if it’s good. ….  If it’s going to be watered down and cumbersome like the (current law), we’d be better off with our own local control.”