Crime Oregon recriminalises drug possession after overdoses rocket

Oregon has approved a state law that recriminalises drug possession.

The law rolls back an experimental policy - the most liberal drug measure in the US - that made possession for personal use a ticketed offence with a fine up to $100 (£76).

The new legislation penalizes those possessing small amounts of drugs with probation, and up to 180 days in jail. The governor said the state still aims to provide a path for drug treatment, rather than punishing drug users.

Tina Kotek, the Democratic governor, signed the bill on Monday. It goes into effect on 1 September.

Rehabilitation and destigmatisation was the intention of the original law, known as Measure 110, when it was passed in a 2020 voter measure, but a spike in the number of overdoses caused lawmakers and supporters to backtrack. Measure 110 was seen by many as the most liberal effort in the US to decriminalise drugs like cocaine, heroine and methamphetamine.

State leaders admitted, however, that there were several implementation issues. Roadblocks to rehabilitation remained, and the upswing in fentanyl overdoses caused an uproar in the state.

In cities like Portland, sightings of people openly using drugs on streets, sidewalks and in front of stores increased and images appeared in national media.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told the New York Times: "The truth is that addiction rates and overdose rates skyrocketed." The mayor, who remained supportive of Measure 110, accused the state of failing to implement the law effectively. He said they decriminalised the use of drugs before putting the proper treatment services in place.

In addition to enhanced penalties for personal use possession, the new law still establishes ways for treatment to be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties.

Governor Kotek said the law's success will depend on coordination between multiple layers of government on the state and local level, as well as health care providers, all of whom she described as "necessary partners".

A few of those who originally supported Measure 110 voted for the new law during this year's legislative session, as there appeared to be signs of a new voter effort to overturn it. The state's more progressive Democrats opposed the change, however. They remained concerned that increased criminal penalties would only lead to more arrests and fail to address the root cause of the state's drug problem.

"Research is consistently showing that (for) people who are incarcerated in jails and prisons, overdose has gone up substantially," Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told USA Today.

"And the fact that when people leave jails and prisons, the likelihood of overdose deaths also goes up substantially in comparison to the general population."

https://archive.is/Yg5iy

 

[oh no its pipkun]

they can get clean in prison, its harder to get the drugs there.

 

[Constellationzero]

Just another thing women in general need to be silenced on.

Having trap houses and crackhead bums all over under the guise of "harm reduction" is not something men, in general, think of.

 

[Spasticus Autisticus]

Oregon approached this issue in the worst way they possibly could have. Legalizing (well, decriminalizing, but effectively legalizing) the possession of hard drugs while keeping the supply chain illicit is essentially the worst of all worlds. It means there's a thriving, unregulated black market and all the associated organized crime that comes with that, but without any effective means of stopping it.

The reason why the possession of hard drugs is illegal and not just the sale and supply of it is because one facilitates the other. It's not out of some concern for the well-being of the user. Also, the way the police get to the dealers to shut them down is by first arresting the users and offering them leniency in return for information. This law left Oregon police basically impotent- although given the culture of Oregon I'm being generous in assuming they were willing to pursue drug dealers to begin with.

If you're going to legalize hard drugs (not that I think that would be a good idea), the only way you could do that sensibly would be if you legalized every step in the supply chain, from manufacture to distribution to sale. The more policy wonks try to come up with "clever" solutions like this the more inadvertent harm they will cause.

This is also why I think Germany's new legalization of cannabis is going to end really badly - they've legalized the growing and possession of cannabis but not the sale of it, to try and prevent the industry from becoming commercialized and creating a "Big Marijuana" industry. The sakes aren't as high (no pun intended) as in Oregon as we're only talking about cannabis and not things like Fentanyl and Meth but I predict it will fail for similar reasons.

When this was being proposed, the proponents kept citing Portugal as the model for this. But in Portugal they essentially forced users into rehab, something the Oregon law never attempted to do. I don't know if it really would have made a difference, but it was really disingenuous of the proponents to keep touting Portugal as the model when they never had any intention of actually implementing it.

 

[TheHarbinger]

they can get clean in prison, its harder to get the drugs there.

Drug overdoses in U.S. state prisons are up over 500% in the last two decades. Lots of prisoners are introduced to drugs for the first time in prison. There are some prisons where senior guards have been caught smuggling in enough drugs for basically the entire incarcerated population. Guards and wardens don't mind if the inmates are tranquilized from drug use if it means a reduction in violence and rioting. It's (by far) the lesser of two evils for them.

It should be harder to get drugs in prison. But the corruption in the U.S. prison system is longstanding and entrenched unfortunately. People routinely bring contraband into rehab clinics and facilities with high security. A prison with corrupt guards is practically an open air drug market.