But in November, Oregon became the first US state to try a different approach than the one that has harmed DeMacon and countless othersincluding many people who do not have SUDwhen voters passed Measure 110, decriminalizing small-scale possession of all drugs. Maine state Rep. Anne Black Oregonians are convicted of drug possession at a rate two-to-three times that of whites, while Indigenous Oregonians are convicted at a rate five times higher. Once an assessment is completed, the violation is dismissed. Although every pathway to recovery is different and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, all substance use disorders can be overcome. No government alternative was provided. <><>980 0 R]/P 1179 0 R/Pg 1177 0 R/S/Link>> But supporters of decriminalization say that is largely last-gasp fearmongering by unreconstructed drug warriors who won't accept that the interdict, arrest and jail model has failed. ,~.a`uc;y
F\1Lm8$c? WebOregon Crime Rates 1960 to 2019 Oregon Crime Rates 1960 - 2019 The data in the crime reports is derived from the annual Uniform Crime Reports issued by the FBI until 2020, at which time the FBI stopped releasing the annual reports in favor of its own electronic search engine. [1228 0 R] The resulting legislation, which came into effect in February 2021, could still result in people caught Mike Schmidt, district attorney for Multnomah County, Ore., strongly supports the decriminalization shift underway. It was the central campaign theme in Oregon when the state decriminalized all drugs by passing Measure 110 with the support of nearly 60 percent of voters in 2020. "I really hope we don't spend the next 10 to 12 months with open air drug markets and nowhere to send" those seeking help, said one official who asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly. ', Overdose Deaths Rose During The War On Drugs, But Efforts To Reduce Them Face Backlash, Race, Drugs And Sentencing At the Supreme Court, House Approves Decriminalizing Marijuana; Bill To Stall In Senate, reduce or even eliminate racial and ethnic disparities, Oregon Blacks are 2.5 times as likely to be convicted of a possession felony, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimates, 48 groups statewide that shared $10 million, From Marijuana To Mushrooms, Voters Want Drug Laws Eased. There have been major changes to the treatment section of the bill, but with near-unanimous support from stakeholders. That is proving to be a heavier bureaucratic lift than it would seem (many records are not digitized), but the wheels are turning for future legislative sessions. <> The Lines for Life line may be able to refer someone to services, but inadequate supply of those services can result in long wait lists. Positive Impact of Decrim: police action is down 80% drug searches are down by 80% This improves police/community relations. endobj Columbia County Sheriff Brian Pixley recognizes that it will reduce barriers for some people struggling with addiction and could increase the likelihood that someone seeks help, without fear of going to jail. It carries a maximum $100 fine, which can be waived if the person calls a hotline for a health assessment. Meanwhile, many Oregon police leaders, while mostly staying out of the public fray as implementation debates roil, are privately worried. They will be able to say Hey, call this number. <>958 0 R]/P 1195 0 R/Pg 1192 0 R/S/Link>> People who are handed a list of phone numbers and sent back to the streets inevitably fall through the cracks. ',O^EoScdwd%+/?N2!xL0#cn5c43p
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{{~X33rOyTBXe,"%J}$[%}Zd;&D\L,iBM7!#.~;l}[2Z;J@` 2\:sJuQ*,$~i^ex\e9T"g)_&l//FXh endobj It is unclear as to how Ya know, and I was a product of all that.". "My roots are in trailer parks of Pocatello, Idaho. The state also has the nation's highest rates of past-year methamphetamine use and pain reliever misuse, in addition to the second-highest rate of mental illness and third-highest rate of serious mental illness. The count is nearly 200 deaths more than the state saw in all of 2019 even as opioid overdose visits to emergency rooms and urgent care centers also continue to rise. <><>989 0 R]/P 1168 0 R/Pg 1158 0 R/S/Link>> Most law enforcement, they have just never had a system that isnt starved, Hurst said. "I'm excited about helping Oregon law enforcement see this tool as a bridge to recovery," Holton says. Jail does nothing but worsen the problem I didnt learn anything of any value during my tenures in jail. Stepping Out of the Racist Footprints of a Disgraceful Past, South Africa Decriminalizes Cannabis. So we don't have a new intervention system. "We've got significant trouble in terms of workforce, having the right people, qualified people and enough people to provide services to folks who struggle with addiction," Richardson tells NPR. Black people make up 27% of drug arrests, but only 13% of the country. The state's Criminal Justice Commission records show about 9,000 people were arrested each year in Oregon for simple drug possession before Measure 110. <> The decriminalization element of Measure 110 went into effect on February 1. endobj hide caption. <><>1013 0 R]/P 1150 0 R/Pg 1146 0 R/S/Link>> The reality of the last several decades is that the burden of substance use disorder and mental health care has largely fallen onto the criminal justice system, whichbesides the inherent ethical problemsis unequipped and unwilling to handle it. <>1010 0 R]/P 1152 0 R/Pg 1146 0 R/S/Link>> And this helps get us closer to that.". Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance 1124 0 obj However, despite some pushback from community advocates fearing unnecessary bureaucratic footdragging, the timelines have now been somewhat extended by Senate Bill 846a companion bill to SB755 that also codified into law, in alignment with Measure 110, the changes to how cannabis tax revenue will be distributed. Safe consumption is currently banned nationwide and drug checking is nearly absent in Oregon. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of theAmerican Law and Economics in abortion rates after legalization, within-state differences in crime rates The views expressed in this article are the writer's own. Implementation of Measure 110s health care aspects has many more moving partsnot least the Oversight and Accountability Council (OAC), which was mandated to be formed by the date decriminalization took effect. Offenses Known to Law Enforcement. The system is just this free-market thing where nonprofits and other people are all advocating for their own things Theres redundancy all over the place.. While Oregons population is heavily concentrated in the Willamette Valley, containing the Portland Metro and Eugene, the vast majority of the state is rural. hide caption. 1117 0 obj endobj Thats something the states Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission (on which both Vezina and I serve) has been asking for for at least two years, but it was never funded. A history of crime and trauma and poverty on both sides of my family. While much confusion around this rapid policy shift remains, Wheelock sees the positives. The decriminalization of all drugs is the latest step in Oregon's concerning embrace of substance use. endobj And the pandemic struck and decimated a treatment system that was already struggling, experts here say. hb```eb@(i7'@d\,?pY~l``h bF
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I hate to use the word but there should be some type of authority. Another 2020 study saw that the <><>955 0 R]/P 1198 0 R/Pg 1192 0 R/S/Link>> According to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, the state logged more than 8,800 arrests for possession of a controlled substance in fiscal year 2019. 1128 0 obj 1 0 obj Senate Bill 397, currently before congress, makes expungement more accessible by eliminating fees and shortening wait times. We have provided a few examples below that you can copy and paste to your site: Your data export is now complete. Mines says she'll now be able to hire three new peer mentors as well as additional support staff. Aaron Knott, policy director at the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office, which ceased prosecuting drug possession earlier than the rest of the state at the behest of DA Mike Schmidt, called Measure Using NIBRS, we examine marijuana-related endobj The term assessment has been changed to screening. It was mandated in the ballot measure as being performed by a licensed treatment provider, meaning Lines for Life could only hire people with CADC certification and not peer mentorsanother hiccup that is being rectified by the bill. endobj The initiative reduces the marijuana revenue distribution to cities and counties. His latest book, Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know, was published on April 20 by Simon & Schuster and is available everywhere books are sold. "When you look at recidivism rates," says Schmidt, the Multnomah district attorney, "70% and 80% were getting rearrested. Nearly five months in, just 29 people who've been issued a possession citation by police have called the line for an addiction health screening, according to Dwight Holton, CEO of Lines for Life, the Oregon nonprofit that runs what's formally called the Telephone Behavioral Health Resource Network. She and other advocates say it's far too early to make any judgments about Oregon's experiment. 2021 is currently on a similar trajectory. Realizing the measure's promise has sharply divided the recovery community, alienated some in law enforcement and left big questions about whether the Legislature will fully fund the measure's promised expansion of care. hide caption. "Unfortunately, here in Oregon, we don't have that. 28 0 obj Measure 110 did allocate millions in new treatment funding money funneled from the state's marijuana tax along with expected savings from reductions in arrests and incarceration. 1122 0 obj "So we put the cart before the horse," he says. Black and Indigenous Oregonians are grossly overrepresented in the criminal-legal system and in drug arrests specifically. Unfortunately, Oregon merely provides the support services to prolong and enable substance misuse, failing to connect users to life-saving treatment programs. "I wasn't no dope dealer; I was a user, come on now!". Although the drug war is global, the United States remains an outlier among wealthy nations for the punitive harshness of its drug policy. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank which supports legalization, reviewed state-level crime data from 2012 to 2020 and found no significant signs of The measure, a major victory for advocates pushing for systemic change in U.S. drug policy, expands funding and access to addiction treatment services using tax revenue from the state's pot industry as well as from expected savings from a reduction in arrests and incarceration. Tanesia DeMacon is no stranger to jail. Officials in Oregon should rethink their approach to drug policy and repeal Measure 110 in favor of policies that are proven to help individuals enter treatment and achieve recovery. Schmidt, who publicly supported Measure 110, says he firmly believes the health model not criminalization is the best way to battle the disease substance use disorder. While law enforcement was predictably against it, opposition also came from more unexpected cornersincluding the recovery community. I believe that once we get a funded system where they could actually send somebody and know thats going to be an avenue and not just a phone number and then theyre back on the street Once law enforcement sees that commitment, and as long as we continue to get these things funded and up and running, theyre going to be relieved. She is a research associate withHealth in Justice Action Lab and a councilmember on Oregons decriminalization Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council. 2 0 obj Measure 110 took away that pathway," he says. 1205 0 obj Ana Alicia Soto "Maybe there would have been a better way to glide path this [Measure 110] on," prosecutor Schmidt says of implementation. Julia Mines is executive director of the Miracles Club, the state's only place targeting the African American recovering community. So what's coming down the line after this?" Its one of the main reasons she became so passionate about decriminalization and funding evidence-based treatment. 5 0 obj He spent more than four decades in Oregon policing. The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimates that Measure 110 will reduce those disparities and result, overall, in about 4,000 fewer Oregonians a year For marginalized people who use drugs, with numerous other barriers, it becomes an impossibility. He says he's concerned the state is failing to expand addiction treatment capacity in a strategic way. endobj Other questions surround Measure 110s treatment funding arm. A recognized shortcoming of many decriminalization measuresand of Measure 110 in particularis the failure to expunge past convictions for things that are no longer criminalized. He also cited well-founded concerns about the preparedness of our health care system, where providers receive little-to-no training in addiction and are known to stigmatize people who use drugs. Closing the treatment gap will ensure more residents achieve healthy, drug-free lives. Portland, for example, has the fifth worst arrest disparities in the nation, with Black people being killed by police at a rate 3.9 times that of white people. Efforts to stop large-scale trafficking in Oregon continue as usual. Fentanyl has contaminated a large swath of the market, from heroin and pills purporting to be opioids or benzodiazepines to cocaine and other stimulants. I could never pass a drug test, she says. 2022-02-28T11:05:35-08:00 Oregon consistently ranks bottom of the pack for treatment accessthough defining treatment is tricky, as Senate workgroups can confirm. 1125 0 obj Please check your download folder. The foundational shift can be felt in the council meetings. 1204 0 obj tDn1%7 A]tR[V) She is working on messaging, so people know just how much of a drug they can possess. Reducing arrests will mean that fewer people who use drugs will be saddled with criminal records. Without access to treatment, drug users often feel that recovery is out of reach. <> x[[sX~wy)|I:T|I23'YSyRdBOF~ qYe7Ib_w*{RTU1{pv? "What we've been doing for the last number of decades has completely failed," says Mike Schmidt, district attorney for Oregon's most populated county, Multnomah, which includes Portland. WebWhy Are Slashings Surging in City Jails? Julia Mines is executive director of the Miracles Club along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in northeast Portland. Some would argue that is the point. And while critics everywhere have long called the drug war a racist, inhumane fiasco that fails to deliver justice or health, Oregon is the first to take a leap toward radically changing those systems. 1227 0 obj No one is steering the ship. "We've just decriminalized. endobj 26 0 obj If you use our chart images on your site or blog, we ask that you provide attribution via a link back to this page. The Miracles Club was among 48 groups statewide that shared $10 million under the first wave of Measure 110 funding. And we're going to learn a lot.". Decimated a treatment system that was already struggling, experts here say 110 funding,! Obj `` so we put the cart before the horse, '' he says Wheelock the! And Indigenous Oregonians are grossly overrepresented in the criminal-legal system and in drug arrests but... ; y F\1Lm8 $ c council meetings from more unexpected cornersincluding the recovery community the cart before horse. 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