Oregon Recriminalizes Illicit Drugs Three Years After Measure 110 Passage
Oregon voters passed the measure in 2020, but have changed their minds regarding the decriminalization of heroin, meth, cocaine, and fentanyl in Oregon.
Oregon has passed House Bill 4002 which overturns the decriminalization of certain drugs, including heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine, and fentanyl. Under Measure 110 which was passed by Oregon voters in 2020, possession and consumption of illicit drugs were treated with a citation, like a traffic offense. House Bill 4002 overturns decriminalization and allows for a misdemeanor charge for possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. The punishment for this crime is a maximum of 6 months in jail compared to a $100 fine under the previous law.
Measure 110 was passed by Oregon voters in the 2020 general election 58 percent to 41 percent. In a February 2024 poll among 500 Oregon voters, 61% referred to the decriminalization policy as a failure. 26% of poll respondents feel that the rule needs more time to work properly.
Supporters of drug decriminalization point to a need to provide support for those who suffer from addiction. The concept is that decriminalizing small amounts of drugs will open the door for addicts to seek help without fear of being charged with a drug possession crime. Supporters also point to the success the country of Portugal has had after decriminalizing drug possession more than 20 years ago in 2001.
Keith Humphreys is an American psychologist at Stanford University who studies the nature of addiction. He sounded the alarm back in 2022 at a hearing where he made the following statement:
“It’s worth noting that Portugal, which is often cited as the inspiration for Oregon’s drug policy, places heavy social and legal pressure on addicted people to seek treatment. The open use and flagrant drug dealing in West Coast cities are virtually absent in Portugal, which shuts them down and uses court pressure to get people into treatment. I have spent a lot of time in Portugal and know the people who designed their policy, so please take it from me: Oregon is not following Portugal’s example and will not get its results.”
Humphreys responded to Wrong Speak Publishing’s request for comment and said, “The differences between Portugal and Oregon were that the former has a more robust mechanism to push people to change their drug use behavior, operates in a culture that is more disapproving of drug use in general, and offers a more easily accessible set of health services for people who are addicted.”
The reports following the passage of House Bill 4002 in Oregon have been mixed. An op-ed in MedPageToday by edical toxicologist Ryan Marino suggests that the new legislation calls for “coercive treatment,” because drug users may be charged with a misdemeanor for possession or they can escape criminal charges by starting an addiction program.
Marino argues that volunteer treatment is more effective, while this kind of coercive treatment will “increase overdose risk and other harms.” He also says that Oregon has ranked poorly among all U.S. states in providing access to addiction treatment programs.
In an ABC News report, Max Williams said Oregon ranked 49th out of 50 in access to treatment. Williams is the leader of the Coalition to Fix and Improve Measure 110. Under Measure 110, drug possession was treated as an infraction, much like a traffic ticket. The drug user could call a health screening phone number to get out of the ticket. During the first several years of Measure 110, there have been 7,600 violations, but only 100 calls were received at the health screening line. Of those calls, only 18 sought a referral for treatment or similar services.
Marino insists that Measure 110 was not a failure, but the recriminalization bill will be a step backward. He refers to research regarding incarceration and criminal charges increasing the odds of future overdoses. According to OPB, the number of overdoses in Oregon has increased to a record high of 1,250 in 2023, a fact that Marino says can be explained by the increase in overdose deaths around the country.
The article further states there were 280 drug deaths in Oregon in 2019. In 2022, 956 deaths were recorded and they have an estimate of 1,250 for 2023. The number of overdose deaths from 2019 to 2023 has more than quadrupled if the 2023 estimates are correct.
The national data on drug overdose deaths from the CDC lists 72,151 overdose deaths for 2019. In the 12 months from November 2022 to October 2023, the provisional data estimates there were 110,640 overdose deaths nationwide. That is a large increase of over 50%, but it is nowhere close to the 400% increase that Oregon saw during the same period.
Marino also referred to a ProPublica article that details the “shortcomings” of the law that they say were never adequately addressed. The biggest point of the ProPublica article is that police officers should have received training to help funnel and direct drug offenders into treatment instead of handing off a ticket with a hotline number. Instead of being encouraged to seek treatment, the offenders don’t pay the ticket or call the hotline.
Marino sees Measure 110 as a failure because the police were not trained to advocate for drug addiction treatment. Meanwhile, Humphreys sees the decriminalization and destigmatization as a recipe for disaster, which is how it played out in Oregon. When it comes to the touted success of Portugal, the implementation was far different from Oregon’s measure that passed in 2020.
Portugal did not simply give a citation that could be ignored and unpaid without seeking treatment. All cases of drug consumption and possession are referred to an “administrative panel, which makes recommendations for treatment, fines, warnings, or other penalties.” This is something that Marino would refer to as “coercive treatment,” but Humphreys would say is a key aspect of Portugal’s alleged success.
Furthermore, the decreasing rates of drug overdoses before the passage of Portugal’s law were followed by an uptick. Despite that, the country is still significantly lower in drug overdose deaths compared to the rest of Europe. Supporters of the decriminalization movement are not convinced that Measure 110 was a failure, but rather that the implementation was flawed.
The voters approved the measure to decriminalize drugs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2020. While that measure passed with significant support, a poll from August 2023 showed 56% support for overturning the law and 64% support for changing parts of the law.
More than half of the poll’s respondents believe the law contributed to the rise in homelessness during the same period. Oregon is ranked third highest in the country for rate of homelessness. From 2020 to 2022, homelessness increased by 23% in Oregon. It raised by another 12% from 2022 to 2023.
The state’s homeless population increased 23% during the pandemic from 2020 to 2022 and another 12% from 2022 to 2023. In contrast, the rate of homelessness in the United States increased by less than a half percent between 2020 and 2022. Between 2022 and 2023, the country’s homelessness rate increased by 12%, the same as Oregon for that year.
It is not clear if Measure 110 caused more problems with drug overdoses and homelessness in Oregon, but the number paints a concerning picture. Decriminalization advocates continue to claim that there were some flaws with the implementation that should’ve been addressed before passing House Bill 4002. Meanwhile, Americans around the country may take caution before attempting a similar experiment in their respective states.
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