S.
W____
Rogers / 4 Senator Ripley
A BILL
To eliminate the war on drugs in the United States.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Decriminalization Act of 2017.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) Of the approximately 2 million people behind bars in the U.S., about 500,000 are there for drug-law
violations.
2) There are more than 50,000 more people in prison for drug offences than for carrying a lethal weapon.
3) The drug problem in the U.S. is a major public health and safety threat.
4) Drug addiction is a disease that can be successfully prevented and treated.
5) In 2011, approximately 2.6 million Americans aged 12 or older used marijuana for the first time.
6) The policing of needle and syringe programs and the incarceration of people for minor drug offenses has
led to the growth of unsafe injections, contributing to the spread of HIV, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis
worldwide.
7) More than a third (35%) of drug offenders in federal prison at sentencing, had either no or minimal
criminal history lowest criminal history category.
8) 80-85% of prisoners who could benefit from drug abuse treatment do not receive it.
9) The drug arrest rate in Ohio has generally increased since the early 2000s for drug possession arrests,
peaking in 2006 at 399 per 100,000 population.
10) In a meta-analysis of 66 incarceration-based treatment evaluations, therapeutic community and
counseling approaches were respectively 1.4 and 1.5 times more likely to reduce reoffending.
11) Around 17% of prisoners are in incarcerated for drug crimes.
12) Decriminalization of drugs in Portugal has decreased the number of 15-19 year olds that use illegal
drugs.
13) Only 15 percent of State prisoners and 17 percent of Federal prisoners took part in drug treatment
programs with a trained professional.
14)Around 17% of prisoners are in incarcerated for drug crimes.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Decriminalization Act of 2017 will eliminate any and all laws against the use and possession of
drugs in the United States of America, but not the distribution of said drugs. No person shall be punished
for their use and or possession of any illicit drugs in the United States. The Decriminalization Act will not
legalize or grant the right to drugs use but will protect non-violent drugs users from being sent to prison.
This will allow more space in prisons for those seen as a threat to themselves and or others in the their
communities.
B) Local police officers and other U.S. officials will be responsible for enforcing this act and ensuring
safety to all non-violent drugs users Funding for this act shall come from the Federal Prison Fund on the
grounds that there will be fewer people in the prisons to care for.
C) Police officers who refuse to participate in the Decriminalization Act of 2017 one time will be forced to
attend and pass a mandatory course explaining the procedure for handling the non-violent drug users.
Police officers who refuse to participate more than once will be suspended from their positions without pay
until a council decides on a fitting punishment for said officer. This bill shall be enacted January 1, 2017.
There shall be no expiration date for this bill.
