Oregon Passes Bill to Re-criminalize Drug Use

A man from Washington state uses marijuana laced with fentanyl in front of his tent in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, on Feb. 23, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Oregon lawmakers have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make possession of certain drugs a misdemeanor in the state, effectively re-criminalizing such substances as fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.

The decision upends a three-year experiment in which Oregon became the first state in the nation to decriminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs.

The bill passed the state Senate 21-8 with bipartisan support. The state House passed it 51-7 the day before, also with support from both parties.

It now sits on the desk of Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek, who has until April 3 to sign it into law, essentially rolling back the state’s voter-approved Measure 110.

Adopted with 58 percent support in 2020, the Measure 110 “Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act” decriminalized user amounts of hard drugs—including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin—and favored funding addiction treatment options through the state’s cannabis tax.

However, as the tax money flowed in, the treatment programs failed to materialize. Meanwhile, drug addiction, fentanyl use, overdoses, and homelessness in Oregon have skyrocketed.

“The great drug decriminalization of Measure 110 has been an epic failure,” the Oregon Taxpayers Association claimed on its website.

“It attracted thousands of the nation’s worst addicts to move here to take advantage of our abundant and cheap narcotics. The politicians were slow (by years) in rolling out Measure 110 treatment programs, but were fast in rolling out free crack pipes, free needles, free $500 gift cards, and 20,000+ free tents. Portland made things worse by de-funding their police and not prosecuting criminals.”

According to recent polls from Emerson College,  56% of those surveyed supported repeal. A GS Strategy Group poll found that 59% of Democrats and 93% of Republicans wanted the measure overturned.

Prominent Oregonians, including Nike co-founder Phil Knight, announced plans to draft a ballot measure asking voters to reverse the measure this November. But after the House vote, the Coalition to Fix and Improve Ballot Measure 110, said it would withdraw its petition if the bill passed the Senate and Gov. Kotek signed it into law.

Overturning the Law

Oregon House Bill 4002, which would roll back Measure 110, is the result of intense negotiations between the majority party Democrats and their Republican counterparts. Representatives heard hours of testimony from advocacy groups, law enforcement, family members of overdose victims, and behavioral health providers, eventually reaching a compromise.

It grants more power to police and prosecutors to redirect users to treatment and makes the possession for personal use a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Lawmakers hope this approach will encourage individuals to enter treatment instead of going to jail.

The law would enable police to crack down on drug use in public areas such as parks and shelters and aims to make it easier to prosecute people who sell drugs. Potential jail time for misdemeanor drug possession would only kick in if a defendant violates their probation.

It also establishes ways for treatment to be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties.

The bill “encourages,” rather than mandates, law enforcement agencies to create deflection programs that would divert people to addiction and mental health services instead of the criminal justice system. Twenty-three of Oregon’s 36 counties have already agreed to offer this taxpayer-funded alternative.

The bill will make it easier for users to receive treatment while incarcerated by establishing a program for them to receive medications for opioid use disorder while in jail. It also makes it easier for addicts to receive withdrawal medications by prohibiting insurers from requiring pre-authorization for those drugs.

Pharmacists will be able to prescribe and dispense early refills of medication for opioid addiction.

“Oregonians have been clear all along: they are ready for this drug decriminalization experiment to be over,” said Republican Rep. Christine Goodwin, who serves on the Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response.

“I heard [them] and voted to provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to hold drug dealers accountable, direct people struggling with addiction to treatment, and restore safety to our communities.”

Ms. Goodwin argued that the legislation will not “repair the damage done in the last three years,“ but that ”re-engaging law enforcement and the criminal justice system is a solid place to start.”

The bill received strong testimony in favor from Oregon’s district attorneys, police, and sheriffs as well as groups like the Portland Metro Chamber of Commerce and Washington County Chamber of Commerce.

In Opposition

Not everyone agrees with rolling back Measure 110. Five Democrats and four Republicans voted against the move. Democratic lawmakers who opposed the bill are concerned the policy will result in more arrests and exacerbate social inequities.

“Criminalization for drug addiction is not the answer,” said Rep. Travis Nelson, a Democrat, who worries the bill will disproportionately harm people of color.

“I fear it may be taking a step backward,” Mr. Nelson said.

In written testimony opposing the bill before the Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety, the Oregon Health Equity Alliance stated, “We know HB 4002 will inflict more government harm and violence on black and brown communities. Black and brown Oregonians will be arrested at higher rates and are most likely to face incarceration and harsher sentencing. We have seen this in the past, and the legislature has the power to learn from these experiences and not repeat history.”

HB 4002 is “political theater, not good policy, that will make these issues worse,” Sandy Chung, executive director at Oregon ACLU wrote on the organization’s website. “It will divert limited tax dollars away from real solutions such as treatment, housing, and non-police mobile crisis teams like CAHOOTS and Portland Street Response.”

Ms. Chung added that HB 4002 is designed to “waste untold millions of taxpayer dollars on an unconscionable expansion of Oregon’s dysfunctional criminal system.”

The Oregon Latino Health Coalition testified that criminalizing drugs will “disproportionately impact black and brown people, Oregonians experiencing homelessness and poverty, and rural Oregonians, perpetuating existing disparities in our criminal justice system.”

The Portland-based advocacy group, Imagine Black feels the new bill represents a major setback. According to a statement on its website, it believes lawmakers “prioritized the voices of police over those of communities of color.”

Another group that supports Measure 110, Unite Oregon, protested outside the State Capitol, with many holding signs saying, “Thank you for investing in white supremacy.”

Assuming Gov. Kotek signs the bill, it will become law on September 1, 2024.