{"id":795108,"date":"2019-04-23T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/bill-to-lower-drug-possession-penalties-continues-through-state-legislature\/"},"modified":"2019-04-23T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T00:00:00","slug":"bill-to-lower-drug-possession-penalties-continues-through-state-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/bill-to-lower-drug-possession-penalties-continues-through-state-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to lower drug possession penalties continues through state legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/DrugOD-SDN-103115-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/DrugOD-SDN-103115-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/DrugOD-SDN-103115-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><figcaption><strong>State lawmakers are considering reducing the penalties for drug possession offenses, in hopes of prioritizing treatment for addiction over punishment.<\/strong><br \/><em>Getty Images \/ iStockphoto | iStockphoto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A bill proposing lower penalties for drug possession offenses continues to make its way through the state Legislature, passing in a split 3-2 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The proposal, known as House Bill 19-1263, would essentially lower the penalties for possession of schedule I and II drugs from felonies to misdemeanors, in hopes of prioritizing treatment for addiction in lieu of incarceration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201c(The bill) focuses on addressing drug abuse as a public health issue rather than wasting resources and money incarcerating people who are in need of treatment,\u201d said Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Pete Lee, a sponsor of the bill. \u201cIt will help nonviolent drug offenders get the resources they need without straining Colorado\u2019s already overcrowded prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The bill will head to the Senate Finance Committee next, but is yet to be scheduled for a hearing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/local\/bill-to-lower-drug-possession-penalties-continues-through-state-legislature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State lawmakers are considering reducing the penalties for drug possession offenses, in hopes of prioritizing treatment for addiction over punishment.Getty Images \/ iStockphoto | iStockphoto A bill proposing lower penalties for drug possession offenses continues to make its way through the state Legislature, passing in a split 3-2 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 21:58:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}