Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR) effectively recriminalized drugs in Oregon on Monday after the state’s failed experiment with legalization of most drugs.
Lawmakers cite problems with the law’s implementation, not the basis of legalization. The 2020 law offered treatment as an alternative penalty for drug possession and lowered criminal penalties. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has seen his city struggle with a rise in homelessness, overdose and fentanyl-related deaths, and businesses leaving downtown, according to a New York Times report.
When Measure 110 passed in 2020, it received wide support in Oregon, notably Portland, where three-quarters of the population voted in favor of the legislation. Wheeler said the proper implementation measures related to treatment as an alternative were not in place.
“There’s no question that the state botched the implementation. And as I say, the timing couldn’t have been worse in terms of the botched implementation,” Wheeler said. “To decriminalize the use of drugs before you actually had the treatment services in place was obviously a huge mistake.”
He said in order for the legislation to be successful, treatment centers should have been stronger before decriminalization.
“With the benefit of hindsight, the way that should have been structured is that it would create the mechanism for funding,” Wheeler said. “The state would build up its behavioral health services, and when it reached a certain threshold, then they would decriminalize. It shouldn’t have gone the other way around.”
A year after Measure 110 was implemented, drug overdoses spiked 50%, with fentanyl accounting for most deaths. The reversal will crack down on public drug use in cities like Portland and give police more power to respond. In 2023, Oregon ranked last in the country in capacity for addiction treatment.
Funding for treatment centers did not come under 18 months after Measure 110 passed. The Oregon Health Authority had to deal with the coronavirus pandemic as well during that time.
“One of the things that people miss in the conversation is the context in which this intervention is being played. It’s not like the state was doing great and the state got worse. The state had nothing,” said Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group that originally funded the ballot measure.
“The truth is that addiction rates and overdose rates skyrocketed,” Wheeler said. “I personally do not attribute all of that to the passage of Measure 110.”
Neighboring Washington saw deaths from overdoses rise higher than what Oregon had despite drug possession being a crime there.
“I think you can see national trends that would suggest that it wasn’t all ballot Measure 110,” Wheeler said. “But it was very easy for the public to draw a line between the passage of Measure 110, the decriminalization of hard drugs, the increase in addiction and the increase in overdoses, and criminal activity associated with drugs.”
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The combination of financial constraints from the pandemic and fentanyl being introduced to the market could not have been worse for Oregon’s “failed” experiment with the legalization.
“There’s no question that what Oregon did was a bold experiment and it failed. Let’s just be honest about that,” Wheeler said. “It was botched in terms of the implementation. The timing was wrong, and frankly, the politics were wrong.”