Ohio Senate Bill 3 came before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 24, 2020. This bill would have lowered criminal penalties associated with illicit drug possession, going so far as to lower some to misdemeanor charges. It is our stance that in doing so this legislature would remove valuable motivational tools for treatment when all other efforts have failed.

Too many parents and family members have tried everything they know to help their adult and teen loved ones who suffer from substance use disorder. When nothing works, far too many are forced to sit by helplessly watching as their loved ones continue to self-harm, completely unable to stop them. Too many families are suffering the daily stress of dread in anticipation of the day when the phone call comes that tells them their child or loved one is dead.

Many parents and family’s have reported feeling a sense of relief when their child is arrested and in jail feel a sense of comfort by the knowledge that the nights spent in jail by their affected loved ones, won’t be the nights they get that dreaded phone call. Why do they feel this way? Because their loved ones are simply unable to acquire the poisons harming them.

The biggest factor for any successful recovery is motivation. When all else fails, there is very little more motivating to any person than the threat of a felony record and real prison time. Ohio has a significant number of programs available to promote treatment over incarceration. Many of these programs would have been significantly harmed or would have become inaccessible to victims if laws like Senate Bill 3 passed.

While we all agree that these programs do need work, our focus needs to remain fixated on removing the illicit drugs from our streets and rehabilitating those in need and we need every tool available to create the motivation necessary for successful recovery.

Ohio Senate Bill 66 was passed into law in 2018 and implemented procedures to help seal and expunge past criminal records that would impede those in successful recovery from future employment opportunities. In summary, expungement is now available to persons with nonviolent, nonsexual misdemeanors and/or felony offenses of the fourth and fifth degree. SB 66 allows for expungement review for a person with up to five felonies of the fourth or fifth degree.  The misdemeanor waiting period remains at one year. Those eligible offenders with one felony conviction must wait three years; those with two felonies must wait four years; and those with three, four or five felonies must wait five years. So in essence at the end of the average 3 years it would take for a victim to achieve a stable recovery, waiting for them at the end of that tunnel, the prize at the finish line, is an opportunity to hit the reset button and get a fresh start, freed from the felony conviction record that may have hindered them. It is our stance that with this current legislature in place there is no need to reduce criminal penalties for drug related criminal behavior and further that SB3 would only serve to further enable the drug dealers and harm rehabilitation efforts.

With this in mind Parents Against Illicit Narcotics sent representatives to the Senate Judiciary Hearing and OPPOSED Ohio Senate Bill 3 and urged our lawmakers to come up with real and lasting solutions that will both stop the criminals selling these poisons and work to provide the necessary support for Ohio families and victims affected by substance use disorder.