Issue 1, the Ohio ballot initiative seeking to change the state’s drug sentencing via a constitutional amendment, has failed, the Associated Press reports.
Supporters gathered more than 305,000 valid signatures from voters across the state to land the Neighborhood Safety, Drug Treatment, and Rehabilitation Amendment on the ballot.
The proposal sought to reduce Ohio’s prison population by reclassifying nonviolent fourth- and fifth-degree felony drug possession or use crimes as first-degree misdemeanors. The amendment would have made the maximum penalty for such crimes 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, and first and second offenses would have been punishable by probation only. It would have also directed the state to give half a day’s credit up to 25 percent of an inmate’s sentence for each day of rehab or educational work completed.
Under Issue 1, prisoners currently incarcerated could have petitioned courts to make the changes to sentencing classifications retroactive, meaning those who were imprisoned under the old rules may have been eligible for release.
Supporters said the incarceration cost savings netted by the early release of those inmates would be funneled back into drug treatment programs and other rehabilitation efforts.
A number of Democrat state lawmakers, as well as social service groups, applauded the measure. But law enforcement groups and many Republicans opposed it.
Cincinnati-based State Sen. Cecil Thomas is a member of the Ohio General Assembly’s Criminal Sentencing Commission. That commission found that Ohio’s drug possession incarcerations have increased by a third. The first-term Democrat said the ballot initiative is the right approach to rolling back those increases and reducing the number of people in the state’s prison system.
State Rep. Bill Seitz, also of Cincinnati, said he’s supportive of the effort’s overall goal, but that legislation, not an amendment, was the best way to deal with the issue. That’s a sentiment other Republicans in the General Assembly share: many feel that sentencing reform is necessary, but worry about locking something so specific into the state’s constitution.
Several Hamilton County officials — including Democrats Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco and Sheriff Jim Neil — held a press conference decrying the provision. And the state’s top legal association was also opposed.
“While many agree that Ohio’s drug laws merit change, Issue 1 is the wrong solution,” Ohio State Bar Association President Robin Weaver wrote recently as the OSBA announced its opposition.
But Issue 1 also garnered support from some unexpected places — including an endorsement from Republican and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Some opponents of Issue 1, including gubernatorial candidate Ohio Attorney General DeWine, said that it would keep people with large quantities of deadly drugs like fentanyl out of jail. But supporters pointed out that prosecutors would have still had discretion in charging dealers with trafficking — an offense that some supporters like DeWine’s gubernatorial opponent, Richard Cordray, agreed should have heftier penalties.
In a September interview, DeWine claimed that Issue 1 would allow someone caught with pounds of fentanyl to stay out of jail. But that’s not true. Ohio’s current drug statutes define “bulk amounts” of illicit, Schedule II drugs like fentanyl — the quantities under which someone would be charged with trafficking instead of simple possession — as 40 grams or five times the maximum daily dose of the drug. In the case of fentanyl, the maximum amount that would fall under those rules according to professional prescribing guides is about .05 grams. Anyone caught with that amount or more would be charged with a third-degree trafficking felony — one not covered by Issue 1.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 7, 2018.