Treatment or incarceration for South Dakota’s drug users? (Audio)

February 3, 2020

Mike Tanner

 

PIERRE, S.D.–Should drug users in South Dakota be put in prison, or in treatment programs?

It’s a question the Legislature will be deciding in the coming weeks.

Senator Craig Kennedy, a Democrat from Yankton, has introduced a bill that would downgrade the offense of drug ingestion from a felony to a misdemeanor for the first two offenses.

Kennedy says putting drug addicts in prison is not a solution.

Governor Noem supports more treatment programs, and said as much as the state’s anti-meth campaign moves into its next phase….

Kennedy’s bill would still make drug ingestion a felony if a person is convicted three times within a ten year period.