Police, prosecutors blast Burgoyne drug bill

BOISE — Several law enforcement groups said Wednesday that they oppose a Democratic senator's proposal to decriminalize drug use under certain circumstances while creating a mechanism to force some users into treatment.

The Idaho Fraternal Order of Police, Idaho Chiefs of Police Association, Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys' Association and the Idaho Sheriffs' Association put out a joint statement saying Sen. Grant Burgoyne's proposal "would be catastrophic to every Idaho community" and would be "the weakest drug statute in the country" if it passed.

"We don't need to look far to see what these types of laws and polices have done to surrounding states and cities," they said. "For example, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake, and California are struggling with the decriminalization of drug possession and the devastating consequences it has had on their communities and public safety. This bill goes far beyond what even those cities and states have done and legalizes drug possession."

Burgoyne's proposal would amend the state's drug possession laws to decriminalize possession for personal use and say that people who are using drugs can, under certain circumstances, be put into treatment following the same procedure used for involuntary mental health commitments. He introduced it as a "personal bill," or a bill that a lawmaker introduces directly without going through the normal committee process. Such bills rarely pass or even get a hearing, although lawmakers sometimes introduce them anyway to make a statement on a particular issue, and Burgoyne said at the time he viewed his proposal as a way to start a conversation about moving the focus of drug policy in Idaho to treatment rather than punishment.

“I have heard from many of my constituents that there are too many people in Idaho prisons,” Burgoyne said. “Idaho has a drug addiction problem, and we cannot arrest our way out of it. To be clear, I am not asking that we legalize drug use, but we should consider decriminalization. We need to start treating drug addiction with robust rehabilitation."

The statement from the prosecutors and police groups said they want to see drug users succeed in treatment and invited the public and lawmakers to "come to any courtroom in Idaho, to observe the significant efforts that everyone ... devotes to a drug offender's success while keeping the offender and the community safe." However, they said legalizing drug possession is not the answer.

"For years the data driven by fact-based evidence and best practices has shown that the incarceration rate in Idaho is driven by high recidivism rates," they said. "It is simply not true that first time 'non-violent drug offenders' fill Idaho's prisons. Idaho's citizens are being misled and this uninformed messaging is encouraging policies that will jeopardize public safety."

Idaho has for years had a high per-capita incarceration rate and the number of inmates has been increasing, with hundreds of state inmates being held in county jails and hundreds more at a private prison in Texas. Gov. Brad Little is asking for funding for 800 new prison beds, including 500 more out-of-state. Little is also proposing a new program to target high-risk probationers and parolees with treatment and other services and hopefully reduce recidivism.