In the wake of Oregon's liberal drug laws, a coalition of political and business leaders is calling for reform, threatening to bring a ballot measure to voters if the state's legislators fail to act by early 2024.
The coalition's call for change comes three years after Oregonians voted to decriminalize drugs.
Former state legislator and ex-director of the Oregon Department of Corrections, Max Williams, voiced the coalition's concerns, stating, "Oregonians still believe that the best strategy is a minimal use of criminal justice resources to encourage people into treatment and recovery. But they also realize the tools that we've currently given law enforcement... are not working."
In 2020, Measure 110 was passed by nearly 60% of Oregon voters, decriminalizing personal use of all drugs and redirecting a significant portion of the state's marijuana tax revenue to fund addiction services. However, the implementation of the measure was marred by bureaucratic missteps and a rushed timeline, coinciding with the nationwide fentanyl crisis. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses claimed the lives of over 100,000 people across the country in 2022, marking a 45% increase since 2019.
Recent polls suggest that Oregonians are growing increasingly disillusioned with the law, which remains unique in its leniency. The Coalition to Fix and Improve Ballot Measure 110 has commissioned three polls this year, with the most recent revealing that 74% of respondents favored recriminalizing possession of fentanyl, heroin, and meth, and making treatment mandatory rather than voluntary as an alternative to incarceration.
A staggering 86% of respondents also expressed support for an immediate ban on the public use of hard drugs. "Oregon has turned into an international spectacle, and I think we looked at each other and realized that we made an enormous mistake," said Portland trial attorney Kristin Olson, who voted in favor of the ballot measure and identifies as a lifelong liberal.
The coalition, which includes prominent figures such as Nike co-founder Phil Knight and Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, has proposed a voter initiative aimed at setting the state back on the right path. The proposal does not completely repeal Measure 110, but it does recriminalize possession of small amounts of hard drugs and completely bans public drug use. It also seeks to improve oversight of tax expenditure and increase penalties for drug dealing.
When Measure 110 was enacted, possession of small amounts of drugs was punishable by a $100 fine, which could be waived if the offender completed a substance use assessment. However, Oregon Judicial Department data reveals that less than 1% of those ticketed have completed a treatment evaluation. "Writing somebody a ticket that is oftentimes less than what you would get for parking illegally in downtown Portland is not motivating people to seek treatment and recovery," Williams told Fox News. "The data for that is overwhelming."
Supporters of Measure 110 argue that the 1% figure does not account for the more than 7,000 people who received substance use treatment in the first quarter of 2023. An additional 11,000 clients utilized peer support services and 14,000 accessed harm reduction supplies such as clean needles, smoking kits, and naloxone, according to state data.
Despite the state approving $264 million in grants for over 200 service providers, according to the most recent audit from the Secretary of States office, Measure 110 supporters fear a return to criminalization will be "harmful and ineffective." Tera Hurst, executive director of the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance, a coalition of state and national groups that supported the law, told The Oregonian, "It re-stigmatizes people who need help. People are less likely to get help when they are stigmatized."
While overdose deaths in the state rose nearly 75% from 2020 to 2022, researchers at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine found no evidence of a correlation between decriminalization and fatal overdose rates in Oregon. The same was true for Washington, where drugs were decriminalized for just over two months after the state Supreme Court overturned the previous drug possession law.
Williams conceded that decriminalization did not create Oregon's current overdose, crime, and livability issues, but argues that it "exacerbated every one of these situations." He pointed out that Oregon remains the only state to have decriminalized drugs, stating, "Nobody's looked at Oregon and said, 'Wow, this is a model of fabulous success.' If anything, a state like our friends to the north in Washington, I think, quickly moved to reinstate criminal sanctions associated with possession of these hard drugs because they did not want to follow the pattern that Oregon had followed."
The Oregon legislature heard testimony on Measure 110 earlier this month ahead of its upcoming short session in February. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler urged lawmakers to criminalize public drug use, and downtown business owners blamed the law for turning the city into a "virtual drug supermarket."
If the legislature fails to act, Williams said the coalition is prepared to run its proposal as a ballot measure, although they would prefer not to wait until November. "There really are people that are dying as a result of this policy," he said. "Waiting just delays the crisis that we're in that much longer."
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