Washington State Legislature legalizes possession of drugs by default

After intense negotiations between the Democrat-controlled House and Senate on Sunday, Washington state lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on Senate Bill 5536, which would have provided harsher penalties for possession of illicit drugs.

The current state law expires on July 1, and because legislators failed to reach an agreement, there will be no state law on the possession of illicit drugs. Cities will now be forced to create their own laws regarding the possession of drugs within their jurisdictions.

The 2021 Washington State Supreme Court judgment in Blake v. State of Washington, otherwise known as the Blake decision, was one of the primary issues that needed to be resolved during this year's legislative session.

Prior to the verdict, possession of illegal drugs was classified as a felony but the laws changed after Blake ruled them unconstitutional due to both possession and unknowing possession being treated equally. It was ruled that the law violated due process at both the State and Federal levels, according to 610 Kona.

In response, the Washington state legislature passed Senate Bill 5476 in 2021 to act as a "temporary fix" with an expiration date of July 1, 2023. SB 5476 made possession of illegal drugs a misdemeanor on the third arrest. After the third arrest, an individual is subject to a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail, and $1,000 in fines.

Senate Bill 5536 proposed for possession of illegal drugs to be classified as a gross misdemeanor, which would have harshened the penalties to 364 days in jail, and up to $5,000 in fines. Judges would have also been able to order treatment programs for individuals charged with possession.

The Bill passed in the Senate but failed in the House on Sunday night, right before the deadline.

Some House Democrats said the penalties were too aggressive and voted against the bill.

House Republicans insisted that the bill wasn't aggressive enough and provided amendments in an attempt to "save" the state from the existential drug crisis. But Democrats threw those amendments out and in good faith, Republican legislators said they couldn't vote for the bill.

As a result of the Democratic-controlled legislature's inability to pass a fix to the Blake decision, as of July 1, there will be no law on the books regarding the possession of hard drugs for the state. In anticipation of the legislation failing, some cities and counties in the state have already passed their own laws regarding drug possession. Following the failure of the vote, other municipalities announced their intent to do so.

Neighboring state Oregon decriminalized drugs in 2021 and in only one year, the state’s overdose rate has skyrocketed, leaving behind a larger drug problem and no solutions.

Washington's Democrat Governor Jay Inslee has hinted at the possibility of calling the Legislature back for a special session to fix the problem.