The South Dakota senate is narrowly passing a bill to reduce the state’s felony ingestion law.
South Dakota is the only state in the country with a felony charge for ingestion of a controlled substance.
The proposal calls for a misdemeanor charge for the first two offenses for ingestion of a controlled substance. The bill requires offenders receive probation and drug treatment.
A felony is charged for the third offense in ten years.
Republican State Senator Tamara Grove is backing the bill. She says felony level ingestion is not working.
“And when you have a felony, you put a collar around a person’s neck. There’s no treatment. The prison system is overwhelmed. There’s no treatment there," Grove said. "So, you have people who have these massive addiction issues and we’re saying, ‘Now, be better.’ But that’s not possible without treatment.”
Last fiscal year, there were 231 people in South Dakota prisons with ingestion as their highest charge. It costs on average 92 dollars a day to incarcerate someone in the state—bringing last year’s total cost to about $7.75 million.
State lawmakers have historically resisted changes to the state’s felony ingestion law. But proponents hope consternation about the cost of a new men’s prison could lead to ingestion reform.
The Senate approved the proposal by a vote of 18 to 17. It now heads to the House.
