Washington’s Supreme Court struck down a strict liability drug law in the state that had made possession of a controlled substance a felony even if the person didn’t know they had the drug in their possession.
This unexpected judicially ordered decriminalization of drugs in Washington has state lawmakers in Olympia scrambling to put together some kind of legislative fix, which could take the form of a recriminalization or a legislatively ordered formal decriminalization of drug possession. Those accused of drug possession under the state law are being released from jails across the state and arrest warrants are being rescinded.
