Recriminalizing drugs deals setback to reform movement

SALEM, Ore. — Three years ago, when Oregon voters approved a pioneering plan to decriminalize hard drugs, advocates looking to halt the jailing of drug users believed they were on the edge of a revolution that would soon sweep across the country.

But even as the state’s landmark law took effect in 2021, the scourge of fentanyl was taking hold. Overdoses soared as the state stumbled in its efforts to fund enhanced treatment programs. And while many other downtowns emerged from the dark days of the pandemic, Portland continued to struggle, with scenes of drugs and despair.

Lately, even some of the liberal politicians who had embraced a new approach to drugs have supported an end to the experiment. On Friday, a bill that will reimpose criminal penalties for possession of some drugs won final passage in the state Legislature and was headed next to Gov. Tina Kotek, who has expressed alarm about open drug use and helped broker a plan to ban such activity.

“It’s clear that we must do something to try and adjust what’s going on out in our communities,” state Sen. Chris Gorsek, a Democrat who had supported decriminalization, said in an interview. Soon after, senators took the floor, with some sharing stories of how addictions and overdoses had affected their own loved ones. They passed the measure by 21-8.

The abrupt rollback is a devastating turn for decriminalization proponents who say the large number of overdose deaths stems from a confluence of factors and failures largely unrelated to the law. They have warned against returning to a “war on drugs” strategy and have urged the Legislature to instead invest in affordable housing and drug treatment options.

“This Legislature did not pass real solutions,” said Sandy Chung, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. “This is about politics and political theater.”

In recent decades, states across the country have moved to legalize medical and recreational marijuana. But no state other than Oregon had taken the step of removing criminal penalties for possessing hard drugs such as fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine.

Oregon’s decriminalization initiative, known as Measure 110, was driven by growing concern that drug laws were disproportionately incarcerating people of color and punishing people in need of addiction treatment. Under the measure, which was approved by 58% of voters, people found in possession of small amounts of hard drugs would be given a $100 citation that could be avoided by taking a health assessment.

But as law enforcement began handing out tickets, officials found few people were opting for a health assessment, and the state stumbled in distributing funds to expand the availability of treatment options.

Meanwhile, fentanyl was flooding the region. In Portland’s downtown, streets already barren as a result of the pandemic felt threatening, with people using drugs openly or acting out in crisis.

Overdose deaths skyrocketed. From September 2022 to September 2023, deaths in the state rose an estimated 42% — the highest increase in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The fatality rate nationwide went up 2%.) Since the start of 2020, Portland’s Multnomah County has recorded more overdose deaths than COVID-19 deaths.