Synthetic drug law passed by county legislators

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The Cortland County legislature voted 12-3 Thursday to approve the county’s synthetic drug law legislation, which prohibits the sale and possession of intoxicating chemical compounds meant to mimic the effects of controlled substances, and includes harsh penalties for violators.

At the county legislature meeting Thursday, legislators spoke for and against the bill.

“I believe our community has lost many opportunities to help substance abusers and that bail reform all those folks are just given a ticket and left to go home,” said Legislator Paul Heider (R-LD-16), adding some people struggling with addiction received help in jail.

Legislator Ronald VanDee (D-LD-4) said he sees the law as the county taking action.

“Enough is enough. Nothing is working. Things are just getting worse,” he said. “People need help, but we also have citizens in this county who need protection.”

Legislative Minority Leader Beau Harbin (D-LD-2) and legislator Susan Wilson (D-LD-5) voted against the bill, instead advocating for harm reduction. Harm reduction is defined by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services as an “approach that emphasizes engaging directly with people who use drugs to prevent overdose and infectious disease transmission, improve the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of those served, and offer low-threshold options for accessing substance use disorder treatment and other health care services.” 

This approach has been long-touted by drug policy reform.

“I am reminding my colleagues that this law is the perpetuation of 50-plus years of doing the same thing over and over, criminalizing users who are suffering from addiction,” Harbin said. “Why do we possibly even think that one more law is going to make a difference? It continues to not work because we continue to not address the issue at the end.”

Harbin said the county is not focusing on the right root-causes. 

“It will just be another law that will pass to sit on a shelf and won’t address the issue,” he said. “We need to focus on harm reduction and get people out of the cycle of addiction.”

Wilson said the county is working on the problem rather than trying to find the solution.

“We know harm reduction works. Points of contact where people feel safe are important,” she said. “I wish we could take all the energy and time we have spent talking about this and have a real discussion about drugs in our community and about solutions.”