News & Commentary

LD 1554 became law today without the signature of the governor. The law makes possession of heroin and other drugs a misdemeanor rather than a felony. Both houses of the Legislature voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill.The final version of LD 1554 was amended to make first and subsequent charges for low-level possession – including less that 200 mg of heroin – a misdemeanor, unless the individual has a prior furnishing or trafficking conviction. The amendment had the support of bipartisan legislators, Attorney General Janet Mills, and advocates for drug law reform.As our advocacy director, Oamshri Amarasingham, said in our press release:

Yesterday, the Bangor Daily News ran a helpful update on the status of efforts in the Legislature to change Maine's approach to drug use. We're thankful the Legislature recognizes the value of treatment over jail, even if the governor doesn't. From the BDN:

Earlier this month, Gov. LePage signed LD 1639, “An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Intergovernmental Pretrial Justice Task Force,” into law. The ACLU of Maine supported the bill, which will improve Maine’s pretrial system by making reforms to the bail system and the imposition of fines on indigent defendants. 

America’s mass incarceration problem has disastrous consequences for all of us. There is of course the incredible fiscal cost of incarcerating one quarter of the world’s prisoners – federal spending on incarceration is estimated at $80 billion a year. That’s $80 billion we could be spending on education, hospitals, and programs that would prevent criminal activity in the first place.

Poor people should never be locked up for being unable to pay their legal debts. Putting someone in jail for failure to pay a fine creates a two-tiered justice system where poor people are punished more harshly than people who can afford to pay their fines. Doing so is unconstitutional and a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, yet several states – including Maine – still rely on this system of de facto debtors’ prisons.

A new program taking aim at the nation’s growing drug problem, one that has been successful in towns such as Gloucester, MA and bigger cities such as Seattle and Baltimore, is now being sought after by many other states, cities, and towns. Maine is one of those states. At a hearing on Thursday, February 18, the ACLU will add our support for LD 1488, a bill to support Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) pilot programs in Maine.

Until this week, the governor's implicit message on Maine's drug problem was that black people were the problem and white people the innocent victims. On Tuesday, that racist message became explicit. This administration wants Mainers to believe – even though&

On Tuesday, January 19, a $3.7 million bill funding 10 new Maine Drug Enforcement Agents, drug recovery programs, and a detox facility in the Bangor area was signed by Governor LePage. This bill is a step in the right direction for Maine, and support from both sides of the aisle for funding treatment contributed to the quick passing of the bill - which was signed despite Gov. LePage’s initial threat to veto.

This piece originally appeared in the Bangor Daily News.