Drug Policy

In the 2011-2012 session, legislators passed sentencing reform legislation, a good first step in criminal justice reform. However, Ohio prisons are still at 128% capacity. In a recent article, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Mohr predicted that overcrowding could rise to 154.1%, if the department were to take a 10% budget cut[1].

The ACLU of Ohio recommends the following policy changes which will reduce the prison population:

• Increase the number of earned credit opportunities for eligible inmates.[2]
• Increase diversion of low-level non-violent offenders into substance abuse and mental health programs.
• Release aging state prisoners who pose no substantial public safety threat through age-based parole programs.
• Increase educational and rehabilitative programming in prison to jumpstart the reentry process and ensure lower recidivism rates.

In spring 2012, the Ohio State Senate attempted to add a controversial provision to the state budget review bill that would have required some Ohioans to a take drug tests before receiving public assistance.

The provision was dropped after a firestorm of criticism. However, some lawmakers, intent on following Florida’s bad example, are already planning on reintroducing the plan as a piece of standalone legislation. Governor John Kasich, who previously indicated that he would not support this type of legislation, now says the he would back the plan.

Despite many assumptions to the contrary, government assistance recipients are no more likely to use drugs than the rest of the general population. In fact, 70 percent of all illicit drug users (not counting alcohol) ages 18-49 are employed full time.

The ACLU argues that mandatory drug testing violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches. Florida’s legislation has already been blocked by a federal judge, and an executive order from Florida Governor Rick Scott targeting state workers for mandatory drug tests has also been struck down.

In addition to their well-documented constitutional problems, these policies are also fiscally unsound. Florida also learned this lesson the hard way when they realized it cost the state more to reimburse those who tested negative than they would have paid out to those who tested positive.

An ACLU supporter recently wrote about his personal objections to this policy. Read about it here.

Nearly 20 percent of Ohio’s inmates come from Cuyahoga County, meaning that Cuyahoga Country residents are severely over-represented in state prisons. Much of this is due to biased enforcement of drug-related crimes, based on race and geography.

On June 16, 2011, the ACLU of Ohio released “Overcharging, Overspending, Overlooking: Cuyahoga County’s Costly War on Drugs“. The report was made possible with support from the Drug Policy Alliance. It looks at the impact these policies have had on Cuyahoga County, and echoes a 2008 report commissioned by Citizens for a Safe and Fair Cleveland.

Although whites use and sell drugs at a similar rate to people of color, African Americans in Cuyahoga County are more likely than whites to be convicted of a felony drug offense. Suburban and out-of-town whites are more likely to receive a misdemeanor plea deal and access to diversion programs.

The ACLU of Ohio has focused on reducing disparities in Cuyahoga County through Citizens for a Safe and Fair Cleveland, a coalition that works for unbiased law enforcement and judicial equity for drug laws.

In 2008, the coalition found that many people of color in Cleveland were charged with felonies simply for having residue on paraphernalia. In other areas of the county, similar crimes were prosecuted as a misdemeanor. The coalition successfully lobbied Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to change the city’s procedure for handling drug paraphernalia cases to reflect those followed by greater Cuyahoga County.

On August 3, 2010, President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act to reduce the sentencing disparity between powdered cocaine and crack cocaine to 18-to-1.

Previously under federal law, someone would need 100 grams of powdered cocaine to receive the same sentence as someone in possession of one gram of crack cocaine. Although the myths surrounding crack cocaine have been dispelled, the disparity persisted for decades. This resulted in harsher punishments for people of color and devastated poor and minority communities.

In 1998, Congress enacted the Aid Elimination Penalty, which prevents anyone with a drug-related conviction from receiving federal financial aid, including Pell Grants or work-study. The provision hurts lower-income and minority students and families disproportionately, often preventing those who most need assistance from getting it. It also punishes a student twice for the same crime: once at sentencing, and again by eliminating financial aid options.

Check out Injustice 101 from the ACLU’s Drug Law Reform Project for more information.