A message from Sheriff Felici:
This morning the Washington State Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, determined the state's felony drug possession law is unconstitutional because it doesn't require prosecutors to prove that someone knowingly or intentionally possessed the drugs.
While I am hoping this is a “course correction’ rather than a complete change in direction, the impacts of the decision will be widespread to say the least. Effective immediately, Washington law enforcement officers are no longer authorized to conduct a criminal investigation, effect an arrest, seek a search warrant, or take any other law enforcement action for simple possession of controlled substances pursuant to RCW 69.50.4013(1).
While it could be argued that this change will reduce the number of people incarcerated in the state, and that drug abuse is better treated as a public health issue, this change will also have an impact on the number of people who were motivated to get into treatment as a result of their arrest and it will impact law enforcements ability to “work their way up the chain” to get to drug dealers.
There is currently only one inmate in the Island County Jail who was being held solely on a charge of possession of a controlled substance. That inmate is in the processes of being released as a result of this court decision.
