Rep. Jeff Keicher | Facebook
Rep. Jeff Keicher | Facebook
House Democrats recently passed a bill proposal that would reduce the penalty for low-severity drug offenses from a felony to a misdemeanor and reportedly focus on treatment rather than reform, but Republican lawmakers are skeptical.
Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) said the bill would give smalltime drug offenders an opportunity to pursue treatment rather than a life-altering felony charge; Ammons also said the bill would remove barriers to housing and employment opportunities for drug felons, but state Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) was one of many Republicans who argued that the bill would benefit drug dealers too much.
"I am so very frustrated by the duality of needing to allow people a second chance," Keicher said, "but the frustration that we have people who will continue to flout the law and seek every chance they can to continue to damage lives beyond their own."
According to WREX, advocates for the bill have said that incarcerating low-level drug users or possessors won't magically reform the jailed individual.
The bill has since moved to the Senate for consideration.
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