Reclassification of drug offenses spark debate

WASILLA — Mike Walsh was careful Thursday not to state his opinion of legislation that would re-classify possession of small amounts of drugs like heroin and methamphetamines from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Walsh was speaking about a lot of legislation with impacts on the judicial system, but the drug crimes bill, Senate Bill 56, took up most of his time. Walsh may have an opinion about the bill, but he was giving it during his presentation at Crossroads Community Church in Wasilla.

“You cannot have a political meeting in a building with a religious purpose,” Walsh said.

If passed, SB 56 would make simple possession of most drugs a misdemeanor. Possessing drugs with the intention to sell, or in large quantities where it can be presumed there is the intent to sell, would still be a felony. Drug crimes will be handled similarly to drunken driving arrests in that a third charge would automatically be a felony. Also similar to drunken driving — drug criminals will be ordered to undergo screening for addictions and then to treatment if they are found to be addicted.

Although Walsh, a former state prosecutor, couldn’t state an opinion, the audience members wore their opinions on their sleeves.

“I can’t figure out how they can completely ignore everything the victim goes through … this is insane,” one told Walsh.

Words and phrases used to describe the bill in the almost universally negative comments on a Frontiersman Facebook post announcing the meeting include “ridiculous,” “wrong on so many levels” and “crazy.”

The idea supporters of SB 56 tout is that the legislation would reduce prison overcrowding, incarceration costs, and the number of felons in the general population.

“With our prisons packed and the cost of incarceration skyrocketing, we must seek responsible ways to slow prison population growth while preserving public safety. According to (Department of Corrections) data, from 2002 to 2011, non-violent offenders have been the fastest growing segment in our prison population; drug and alcohol offenses account for a substantial portion of this growth,” Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, wrote in his sponsor’s statement for the bill.

While that might at first blush seem to be a plan that saves money on prison costs while putting the public at risk, Dyson’s staff says the statistics from states that have taken this tack show no increase in crime.

Forest Dunbar, a Harvard-educated Juneau attorney who grew up in Cordova and did research for the bill for Dyson’s office, testified at a House Finance Committee meeting last April. He said crime rates in those states usually decrease.

“I don’t want to make any causal claims here. The data wasn’t that rich,” he said. But it would make sense, because “there are higher levels of drug treatment in states in which this is a misdemeanor.”

He said another goal of the change would be to create fewer felons. People with felony convictions on their records are much less productive. They are barred from getting and holding some jobs. They can’t get student loans, or certain types of housing.

“These are the kinds of things that help drive recidivism,” he said.

Richard Svobodny, the state deputy attorney general in charge of the criminal division, said he worries about being able to keep drug offenders in treatment if an offense is a misdemeanor.

“One of the reasons that it’s been a felony to possess heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine in the state for literally since before statehood is because when you are on felony probation, you have a felony probation officer — not someone who works at (the Department of) Health and Social Services and calls themselves a probations officer, someone who is certified by the (Alaska) Police Standards Council, that can go in and do searches, that carries a firearm,” Svobodny said.

Those officers, he said, are able to keep on these offenders, ask them why they didn’t go to treatment and threaten that if the offender doesn’t return to treatment, he will be sent back to prison.

He also cautioned against putting a lot of stock in figures that proponents of the bill cite showing the rate of non-violent criminals in the system. Non-violent crimes include a lot of pretty serious offenses.

“They don’t include things like arson, blowing up a pipeline,” Svobodny said. And when citing statistics including all non-violent offenders, “they are counting in that group of people who are in jail people who ought to be there, people who have committed 14 burglaries.”

Carmen Gutierrez, who recently retired from her position as deputy commissioner for Prisoner Rehabilitation and Reentry for the Department of Corrections, cited statistics in her testimony to the committee.

“In 2002, 42 percent of the prison population were considered non-violent offenders. That percentage has grown to 62 percent in 2011,” Gutierrez said.

Chuck Kopp, one of Sen. Dyson’s staffers, said he disagreed with Svobodny that the treatment programs weren’t robust. He said that the treatment requirement was put into the bill after an objection from the Department of Law where Svobodny works.

“It is very robust,” he said.

Kopp said that in his 23 years in law enforcement, time that included seven years as chief of police for the city of Kenai and a brief tenure as the state Commissioner of Public Safety, he was charged with enforcing those laws.

“My background is diverse and dealt hands-on with these issues, and I will be the first to tell you our system is broken,” he said. “Arresting people for having minute amounts, amounts that could fit on the head of a pin, and having it be a felony … after awhile it gets to you.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.