Broward State Rep. Katie Edwards wants to ease up on the three-year prison terms some nonviolent first offenders get for possessing pain pills.
Her bill to go a little easier on prescription pain pill violations will be heard in the legislative session that begins in March. As it stands, defendants caught with at least four grams of hydrocodone or oxycodone are subject to an automatic three years in prison. Edwards wants to raise the possession requirement to 14 grams.
Edwards says sending someone to prison for three years costs the state $90,000."We're looking at much more fiscally responsible approach to how we deal with these certain first time, non violent drug offenders and recognizing that these sentencing thresholds need to be recalibrated.
Edwards says many low-level offenders are addicts left high-and-dry by the state's effective campaign against illegal pill mills. She says most of them are women with children at home and should be in treatment rather than behind bars.