West Virginia Watch – A bill that drastically increases penalties for certain drug offenses passed the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday. If signed into law, advocates worry how the new provisions will impact already vulnerable populations, like people who use drugs, who they say are more likely to be incarcerated even if they are not high-level “dealers.”
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On Friday, the House passed the bill 98-1, with one member absent and not voting. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, was the only lawmaker to vote against the legislation.
A slightly different version of Senate Bill 196 passed the state Senate earlier this session. Through the committee process in the House, lawmakers amended the bill, removing provisions that required someone to know the drugs they carried or intended to distribute contained fentanyl, which through the bill language levies higher criminal penalties than ever before in the state.
