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.