With Oregon facing rampant public drug use, lawmakers backpedal on pioneering decriminalization law
pbs.org
Democratic lawmakers in Oregon on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law, a recognition that public opinion has soured on the measure amid rampant public drug use during the fentanyl crisis.
The bill would recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as a low-level misdemeanor, enabling police to confiscate them and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks, its authors said. It also aims to make it easier to prosecute dealers, to access addiction treatment medication, and to obtain and keep housing without facing discrimination for using that medication.
This wouldn't even be a problem if Oregon also had socialized medicine that would offer free drug rehabilitation and treatment programs. That's what you need to do along with decriminalization, otherwise it will never work.
Pretty much this.
They need to look at Portugal and Amsterdam on how to handle decriminalization.
Oregon has expanded Medicaid and only has 6% uninsured. Treatment is free under Medicaid, but there isn't enough treatment available because of historical disinvestment in the treatment system.
Measure 110 invested a lot of money in treatment, but you can't fix decades of apathy in 1 year.
A Federal program to catch drug abusers when they fall would reduce the need for consequences when they make camp to get their fix. As it stands, drug abusers will go to cities with liberal treatment and make a mess of it.
I visited downtown Portland last year by train and it was a depressing experience. On one side of a public park there was what looked like a potentially dead person wrapped in a blanket with a graffiti backdrop, and on the other side a drugged out guy pissing in the middle of the street. I feel bad for these addicts, but they can live like that…
Downtown Oregon?
Good catch, thanks.
Portland
Oregonian here... Measure 110 is an absolute shit show.
Yes, it decriminalized drugs and funded treatment programs, but the problem was the treatment programs were 100% optional.
Here's how it "worked":
Get busted with drugs, it's a $100 fine.
Fine can get waived if you call a toll free number to ask about treatment.
Note: All you had to do was call the number. You didn't have to actually GET treatment.
Initially 16,000 or so people were cited in the first year, 0.85% (~136) sought treatment.
https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2022/09/oregons-drug-decriminalization-effort-sends-less-than-1-of-people-to-treatment.html
The rest were looking for free needle exchanges, free methadone, free naloxone.
There are no real consequences, and unlike booze and pot, there are no laws banning public use of hard drugs.
So we get open air drug markets, run by cartels from Honduras, in this case mere blocks from police HQ:
https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2023/03/25/whos-running-downtown-portlands-open-air-fentanyl-market/
https://www.koin.com/news/crime/feds-drug-traffickers-using-honduran-nationals-to-funnel-fentanyl-into-portland/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/honduran-man-arrested-portland-trafficking-rainbow-fentanyl-and-firearms-charged-federal