MCHENRY COUNTY — For those unfamiliar with House Bill 3447 (HB 3447), one of its goals would be to reclassify small amounts of drug possession, including heroin and cocaine, from a low-level Class 4 felony to a Class A misdemeanor.
Misdemeanors under the bill would also include possession of fewer than five grams of cocaine, less than five pills of most schedule III substances such as Xanax and Valium, and less than 40 pills of oxycodone and similar painkillers.
Under the current law, individuals charged with these Class 4 felonies face up to a one-to-four-year prison sentence. However, with HB 3447 reclassifying these offenses as misdemeanors, it would only carry a jail sentence of less than one year.
HB 3447 narrowly passed out of the House of Representatives back in April 2021 and has since stalled at the Senate level.
On Oct. 6, various McHenry County officials voiced their concern with the McHenry County Board’s Law and Justice Committee and advocated for a resolution to oppose any further consideration or passage of HB 3447.
McHenry County Coroner Michael Rein specifically spoke about his worry over fatal overdoses within the community.
“As coroner, I see that drugs like fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine continue to cause the vast majority of overdose deaths to McHenry County residents at alarming rates,” said Rein. “Three grams of fentanyl are enough to kill more than 1,500 people. It’s shocking that any representative in Springfield believes possession of substances capable of causing such carnage and death should be reduced to a minor criminal offense.”
HB 3447 was filed by Illinois state Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), who stated that the inspiration behind the bill came in part from a constituent who was forced to leave their state university after being charged with a felony for illegally possessing a prescription medication to which the student was addicted to.
“This initiative will give [individuals] an opportunity to true treatment as opposed to putting a felony on people for possession of drugs,” stated Ammons.
She continued, “It will also remove the barrier to housing and jobs that come along with giving people felonies. Our goal and our initiative [are] to level the playing field and give them [a] true opportunity to treatment, as opposed to saddling them with felony convictions that unfortunately we have to unravel later.”
Other supporters of the bill such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, stated that fatal overdoses and suicides are far higher for people released from jail than others, with incarcerated people who need treatment only receiving it 16% of the time.
Regardless of what supporters of HB 3447 have stated, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally fears that these changes to the criminal justice system will only further cause harm within the community.
“As with the SAFE-T Act, the super-majorities in the House and Senate are attempting to quietly remake the criminal justice system in extreme ways that jeopardize public safety,” said Kenneally. “Decriminalizing marijuana was the first step toward legalization, and that appears to be the track Springfield is now on with fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, PCP, LSD, methamphetamines, and ecstasy.”
He continued, “It is up to local officials, victim groups, law enforcement, and anyone else who expects the criminal justice system to respond vigorously to deadly criminal behavior to make their voices heard. To drag these ‘reforms,’ passed discretely in Springfield and so lacking in commonsense, into the light.”
