At-a-Glance: Just more than a decade after mandatory minimums for heroin addicts and dealers were lessened by Louisiana lawmakers, they're likely to increase again after a bill to double minimum prison terms passed its first hurdle Wednesday (March 26).
The bill: House Bill 332 is sponsored by state Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, who also chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee. The bill would increase mandatory minimum sentences for heroin producers, manufacturers, distributors and dispensers from five to 10 years. Heroin users, who aren't currently subject to mandatory minimum sentences, found guilty of heroin possession would be jailed for at least two years.
The debate: Sheriffs, state police and district attorneys in Louisiana testified in support of raising the minimums for both users and dealers. But, Robert Toale of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Judge Robert Morrison of the District Court Judges Association raised concerns about mandatory minimums for heroin addicts, urging lawmakers to focus instead on treatment. Toale also said he was also concerned about rising prison costs in Louisiana, the state with the highest incarceration rate in the nation.
Democratic lawmakers usually opposed to mandatory minimums, like Helena Moreno of New Orleans and former State Police Superintendent Terry Landry of New Iberia, said they're in favor of the bill in this case because of the drastic spike in heroin overdose deaths in Louisiana in the last two years.
The vote: The bill was approved without dissent. A voice vote was not taken.
