Democratic lawmakers in Oregon have unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state's first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law.

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.

  • ShepherdPie
    2·
    10 months ago

    Decriminalization of personal-use amounts of drugs, approved by voters in 2020 under Ballot Measure 110, was supposed to channel hundreds of millions of dollars of marijuana tax revenues into drug treatment and harm reduction programs. But that hasn’t yet translated into an improved care network for a state with the second-highest rate of substance use disorder in the nation and ranked 50th for access to treatment.

    “When Oregonians passed Measure 110, we expected that our loved ones battling addiction would have access to treatment and a chance for a better life,” Fagan told reporters in a Zoom press conference. “We expected there will be fewer of our neighbors struggling on the streets.”

    Instead, the funding has been slow getting out of the gate and instances of drug abuse and overdose deaths have increased.

    What point is there in calling a hotline that’ll tell you there’s no treatment options available? This shit is straight out of the Republican playbook, starve services to make them ineffectual, and then point to that ineffectiveness as a reason to change laws to what they want. The only difference here is that it’s Democratic legislators doing it. It’s just scumbags all the way down regardless of the party they represent.