The US state of Oregon passed their Ballot Measure 110—or the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act---just over three years ago. The measure is one of the most liberal drug laws in the US, decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, while using hundreds of millions of dollars in cannabis taxed to aid addiction recovery. But now, Oregon lawmakers may reverse their stance on the bill this legislative session.
Under Measure 110, police were ordered to issue citations of $100 along with a card that has the hotline number for addiction treatment services. If a person called the hotline, they could be allowed to have that citation dismissed and not pay the $100. Oregon data revealed that only 4% of people who received the citation actually called the hotline, per one report, as the tickets went unpaid.
“We’ve talked to exactly two people that have actually called that number,” said Sergeant Jerry Cioeta of the Portland Police Bureau, adding that last year his squad handed out more than 700 tickets “and got absolutely nowhere with it.”
Oregon lawmakers are now considering re-criminalizing illicit drugs as they believe the lax approach isn’t working. According to an Oregon public media report, there has been evidence of drug addicts seeking out treatment, but the effort to fortify the police's ability to help people to seek treatment has not been successful. At the same time, an increase in drug overdose deaths has been noted by state lawmakers.
But lawmakers also declined to fund a proposed $50,000 online course that would have instructed police officers on how to enforce the new law, adds the report from Friday. Even though police leaders campaigned against the ballot measure before it was passed. Lawmakers believed the funding should go towards treatment instead of training police to help people seek treatment.
Lawmakers in Oregon are expected to vote on a bill to re-criminalize illicit drugs, with Democrats pushing for a bill that would make small-scale drug possession a low-level misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail with the opportunity to seek treatment instead of facing charges. The bill would also carry harsher sentences for those who sell drugs, offer wider access to medication for opioid addiction and would expand recovery and housing services as well as drug use prevention programs.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Oregon would like to push for harder punishments including up to a year in jail for drug possession, with the option for treatment and probation as opposed to jail.
"It's not actually going to save lives or help people get into services. It's going to create barriers to housing and employment, which is what criminal records do," said advocate Tera Hurst of the proposed bill.
Drug overdose deaths in Oregon increased by a third from 2019 to 2020, that percentage swelled to another 44% in 2021, marking over 1,000 deaths in 2021, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
A report from last week, however, claims that the lax drug laws are not linked to drug related deaths in Oregon. One study, the report says, shows that just 1.5% of the 468 drug users in eight Oregon counties began using drugs after Measure 110 went into effect.
Instead, the report blames the bill for not addressing the issue of the unpredictable potency of illegal drugs, as chances of being killed by illicit drugs purchased on the black market is greater than when prescription drugs—which are legally produced—are misused.
This crackdown on legally produced drugs coincided with the rise of illicit fentanyl, which is more potent than heroin. As opioid prescriptions decreased, opioid-related deaths increased, the report claims, basing their findings on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).