Minnesota legislators and criminal justice leaders have struck a deal on what could be the most significant reforms to the state's drug laws in decades.
The proposal came after months of closed-door discussions between lawmakers and various interest groups, such as law enforcement, prosecutors and defense attorneys. If passed, it would lower penalties for some high-level drug offenses and provide more room in the law to discern between "kingpin" drug dealers and severe addicts.
"It's become very clear that trying to address drug use and addiction by just locking people up is ineffective and often even counterproductive," said Mark Haase, a lobbyist for the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, who was involved in the negotiations. "And this legislation will go a long way toward getting us to start looking at these issues in a different way."
The deal would reduce the recommended prison sentence for first-degree sale and possession of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from seven years to five-plus years.
For meth and cocaine, it would raise the minimum weight to qualify for high-level charges. For example, first-degree sale of these drugs would now be defined as 17 grams — up from the current 10 grams — unless the offender had "aggravating factors," such as possession of a firearm or selling drugs to benefit a gang.
It would also drop the sentence for second-degree drug sale from four years in prison to four years on probation for heroin, cocaine and meth.
The proposal would also stiffen marijuana laws. Right now, a first-degree charge is defined as selling 50 kilograms or possessing 100 kilograms. Those would both be cut in half. Second-degree charges would similarly change.
State Public Defender William Ward said law enforcement officials wanted to change the marijuana threshold because they thought it was too high. He said the new weight limits are still substantial — 50 kilograms equals about 110 pounds.
