Simonaire Wants Parks to be Drug-Free Zones

ANNAPOLIS—Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee members were urged last month to pass a bill that would create drug-free zones at county parks and recreation areas.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bryan Simonaire (R-Pasadena), also proposes that offenders be made to pay fines and serve jail time under guidelines similar to those of drug-free school zones.

According to the bill's fiscal and policy note, current law states that a person who possesses, manufactures or distributes drugs within 1,000 feet of a school is guilty of a felony. If that person is convicted, he or she would face up to 20 years in jail and/or a $20,000 fine for a first offense—the same penalties Simonaire proposed in his bill.

“This is to deter our children from being the target of drug dealers as opposed to throwing more people in jail,” he said. The bill aims to “deter drug dealers from preying upon our children…Parks should be a safe environment.”

If the bill passes, a pilot program would be established in Anne Arundel County beginning in October 2011 and lasting three years. The county would spend about $11,000 in fiscal year 2012 in order to post signs designating a public park or recreation area as a “drug-free zone,” according to the fiscal and poilcy note.

The Maryland Judiciary submitted written testimony opposing the bill, taking issue with the creation of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions.

“These provisions take away judicial discretion and prelude the court from considering the individual facts and circumstances of each case,” read a memo from the Maryland Judicial Conference legislative committee.

“It’s one thing to say we don’t want drugs being sold in the park,” said Woody Bowen, president of the Olde Brooklyn Park Improvement Association, during the hearing. “It’s what’s left behind that becomes the problem—a spoon, a can a hypodermic needle…Support this bill for the health and safety of the children.”

Simonaire cited the thousands of children who use the parks to play sports, especially baseball beginning in the spring.

“It’s a county-wide issue. I’ve had calls from Pasadena, Brooklyn Park and Glen Burnie. The parents are really concerned and therefore I am as well.”

Darrin Stevens, who is president of the Arundel Neighborhoods Association and has worked with youth baseball leagues in the past, cited the amount of time he and other volunteers spent cleaning the fields before the children could play on them.

“Before our Saturday and Sunday games we had to get there 1 ½ to two hours early to make sure the fields were safe…and there were no broken bottles or needles,” he said. “It’s common sense to keep the drugs out of the parks where our children play.”

Simonaire cross-filed a similar bill in both the Senate and House last year, but said he hopes the bill is able to become law this year. No date has been set yet for the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to vote on the bill.