Good intentions are fine, but so far they have proven to be as insufficient in the fight against drugs as the war on drug trafficking.
It was November 2020 when Oregon, a state polarized between the most progressive and a very bellicose extreme right in the literal sense, launched an experiment that was described as historic.
The “drug decriminalization and addiction treatment” initiative, known as measure 110, received the support of 58% of voters. This made Oregon the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of prohibited substances, such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and others.
It also meant channeling hundreds of millions of tax dollars from the cannabis industry into addiction treatment, social support, housing and pain reduction for all those who were hooked, preventing overdoses and giving them another perspective on life.
The main objective of this law, which came into force in February 2021, was to “force a change in attitude towards people who use drugs and in the way they are treated,” emphasized Tera Hurst, director of the Health Justice Recovery Alliance.
If anything inspired Measure 110, it was a sense of desperation, where addicts swelled the ranks of the homeless.
The drug war, which has been going on for decades, was and is a resounding failure, while the police solution does not lead to a cure. In 2020, Oregon had the highest rate of drug addiction in the US and, in turn, was practically in last place in treatments. There was a flood of fentanyl, a deadly drug. There had been an almost 70% increase in overdose deaths and it was continuing to rise.
That was the context for applying a law in which healing was prioritized over punishment, creating a new model. It offered, outside the judicial system, a voluntary solution, without coercion.
Three years after the beginning of its application, Democratic Governor Tina Kotek signed a regulation a few days ago that restores criminal cases and prison punishment for possession. Legislators overwhelmingly voted for law 4002, which annuls the reimplementation of the Penal Code.
“We were too progressive and society is not prepared for this,” said Jovannis Velez, of the Recovery Works Northwest organization.
This point was reached after an avalanche of overdose deaths. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintained that Oregon had a 61% increase in deaths due to drugs in the first two years of this regulation. The national average was 13%. Unintentional deaths due to opioids increased in this state from 280 in 2019 to 956 in 2022, according to state health authorities.
A study published in the Journal of Health Economics concluded that measure 110 was responsible for 182 additional overdose deaths, just considering 2021.
Until this reversal, police could fine $100 for consuming these substances in public spaces, less than for running a traffic light, critics argued. The summons for these cases were not applied if the patient called a hotline and made an appointment for treatment. Despite this, more than 95% ignored the fines as there was no type of sanction if non-payment occurred.
A state audit noted that last year there were 119 calls to that hotline and that, given the cost of the service, each one cost $7,000.
The reversal had broad support from official officials and many surveys. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (a former Republican turned Democrat) was one of the most vocal about the review.
In this period, based on his arguments, he has had to confront the exponential increase in homelessness, turbulent protests in the streets, an exodus of businesses from the city center, a record of homicides, the rapid spread of fentanyl and a rampant number of fatal overdoses.
Under the new regulation, still far from the severity of another time, the possession of small quantities will be a crime, punishable by up to six months in prison. And treatment will continue to be offered as an alternative to punishment.
The most progressive sectors maintain their support for decriminalization. They maintain that an experiment of this magnitude requires time and more when, as they denounce, there has been strong sabotage from certain sectors. They believe that they are giving up a great opportunity to help addicts.
“Drug decriminalization reduced the pain of criminalization, Oregon leaders did not,” stressed Kassandra Frederique, attorney and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Their decades of underfunding housing, addiction services and health care is to blame for the suffering we see on the state's streets,” she added.
Other voices said that rejecting measure 110 ignores why people are addicted and what is needed to redirect the crisis. And they claimed that the repression has been a dead end.
