COLUMBUS

- The Alliance for Safety and Justice called on the Ohio General Assembly to immediately pass Senate Bill 3 to make low-level drug possession a misdemeanor instead of a felony, reduce prison overcrowding and help people with addiction get treatment.

"Ohio needs to stop sending people to prison for addiction and low-level drug possession. It undermines people's recovery and makes us less safe. If we have learned any lessons from the COVID-19 outbreak, it must be that our prisons are dangerously and unnecessarily overcrowded, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars a year and endangering our health," said Shakyra Diaz, Ohio State Director for the Alliance for Safety and Justice. "By immediately passing Senate Bill 3, state lawmakers can ensure that the health and safety of all communities are prioritized. The cost of inaction to our state's budget and families will be too great if we don't take action to change this status quo. We can't wait for more public health crises to remind us of the deadly consequences."

The Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled Senate Bill 3 for an 11th hearing on Wednesday, May 20.

ABOUT ALLIANCE FOR SAFETY AND JUSTICE

The Alliance for Safety and Justice is a national organization that aims to win new safety priorities in states across the country. It partners with leaders to advance state reform through networking, coalition building, research, education and advocacy. It also brings together diverse crime survivors to advance policies that help communities most harmed by crime and violence, as part of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice - its national network of over 42,000 crime survivors with thousands of members in Ohio.

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For more information:

Dennis Willard

614.209.8945

dennis@precisionnewmedia.com