Oregon Decriminalized Drugs. Voters Now Regret It.

from New York Times I'm Michael boaro. this is the. [Music]. Daily 3 years ago Oregon became the. first state in the country to. decriminalize the possession of hard. drugs now they're about to reverse. course today my colleague Mike Baker on. what went. wrong.

it's Tuesday March. [Music]. 12th Mike I want to begin with how and. why the state of Oregon ever decided to. decriminalize hard drugs the decision. that really sets this entire story into. motion yeah I mean if we go back 5 years. ago just before the pandemic we can all. remember the opioid crisis that was.

spreading across the country and Oregon. on its own was really struggling drug. overdoses had been rising at quite an. alarming rate and the state ranked among. the worst in access to drug treatment at. the time and as we know arrest and jail. have been a central strategy to. combating drugs for decades and for. people in Oregon they're looking around. saying this has not been working that. model is broken.

it's time for a new path and one of the. options that began to emerge was is it. time to decriminalize these drugs and. focus on treatment and there was already. a road map that suggested. decriminalization could work just. explain that well if you remember. Washington State in Colorado in 2012. legalized the recreational use of. marijuana Oregon legalized it shortly. after in 2014 mhm and the states that. followed that path you know I they found. a lot of success they could get more tax.

revenue they could reprioritize their. law enforcement resources they could. deal with racial disparities that had. been in the system for decades there. were a range of benefits all without the. sort of Doomsday scenarios that a lot of. people had predicted would happen right. the sky did not at all fall as some had. feared when pot was decriminalized in. any of these states right and now it's. spread across the country about half of. states have legalized marijuana and now. obviously pot is not an opioid opioids.

are much harder drugs but at a. fundamental level the motivation here is. still the same that jail is not the. answer and so people started to really. coales around this idea it's a. progressive State and Advocates saw a. pathway to develop a plan and put it on. the ballot for voters to consider MH so. that's how in 2020 we found ourselves. with this ballot initiative measure 110. okay so tell us about measure 110 what's. in it exactly the thrust of the measure.

is really to focus on stop treating drug. addiction as a crime and start treating. it as a health issue and there are two. parts of the plan one side you would. decriminalize possession of small. amounts of drugs you know not a amount. that a maybe a dealer might carry and. that would be decriminalizing things. like heroin and cocaine and. Fentanyl and on the other hand of the. initiative you'd have these long overdue.

Investments hundreds of millions of. dollars in building out drug treatment. services that the state had really been. lacking H so as proposed what happens. when authorities in Oregon come across. an addict who possesses a small amount. of cocaine or fentanyl for example what. what's the envisioned process if an. officer comes across someone on the. sidewalk using a drug the goal was for. that officer to not arrest but to issue.

a citation with a $100 fine instead of. sending that person to jail they could. avoid that fine by calling a phone. number getting a health assessment and. potentially being directed into a. treatment program that would serve them. so the thinking is nobody is going to. want to pay that $100 fine so somebody. will instead call that number and enter. this pipeline for treatment right a. small penalty a big funnel to get people.

into treatment and at the same time. there's a ton of funding available to. make this happen because the plan takes. cannabis tax revenue that the state has. been collecting and directs it into. building out this treatment H so in a. sense one form of decriminalization of. pot finances the cost of. decriminalizing the other which is hard. drugs you got it and there's a lot of. money behind the effort and there's also. a lot of powerful. people the drug policy Alliance which.

was a Reform Group backed by billionaire. George Soros contributed millions of. dollars to lead the effort the. initiative also won funding from. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his. wife Priscilla Chan and it was winning. big endorsements left and right everyone. from the ACLU to the state democratic. party to the Oregon Nurses. Association and in Portland you the. local district attorney Mike Schmidt the.

prosecutor who would handle drug crimes. in the city he comes out and says you. know I think what we've been doing. clearly has failed he's also in favor of. measure 110 Wow Let's try something. different there was really sort of a. ground swell of support that was. building as the year went on and in. November 2020 and a first in the nation. in Oregon Oregon voters passed a. groundbreaking Drug law reform ballot. measure 110 passes with 50 % of the vote.

I think this is a good thing because way. too many people get locked up in America. for way too long I mean I I view Oregon. as a very important and I'll say. necessary lab experiment so let's all. watch I mean it's worth saying this. moment is kind of a revolution in. America's relationship to hard drugs. absolutely one Advocate said that night.

that the results were like taking a. sledgehammer to the Cornerstone of the. drug war they really envisioned that. point that this was going to be the. start of a wave of legislation across. the country the first of many states to. do this right they envisioned movement. in Washington state and Vermont and. Maine and DC and then building up. momentum towards an eventual ballot. initiative in California H this was the. start of of a new wave of.

decriminalization okay so what happens. after measure 110 is adopted by the. voters in Oregon and this new system is. in place so it rolls out in early 2021. it's finally happening police instead of. arresting people they start handing out. these $100 citations mhm but the roll. out's a bit Rocky from the. start pretty soon it becomes clear that. very few people are calling this state.

hotline to be guided into treatment and. over the following months and then years. what people see on the streets of. Portland in particular but also in other. parts of Oregon is a sense of. lawlessness this corner of Southwest. forth in Washington is in many ways a. hub of downtown in one where the crisis. on our streets is on Full display. there's open drug use people shooting up. or cooking drugs on the streets since. the overdose how many times have you.

smoked thus far about 15 to 25 times. today and it's probably not even noon. yet you know in portions of downtown. Portland it wasn't uncommon to see. people really in the throws of Crisis. screaming in the middle of the street. back when I was homeless it was brutal. but nothing like it is today businesses. were suffering many of them started. hiring private security you can't get a. police response if you try you wait on. hold for hours only to be told just F. something out online and hope and that.

hope is dead so people in Portland were. complaining like this is getting worse. overdoses in downtown Portland led to. another loss of life on the sidewalk. people started to see overdoses around. them on the streets more people downtown. Portland are carrying Narcan on. themselves just in case they encounter. someone who's overdosed on the sidewalk. it's just been just. Relentless and through all that the. overdose numbers are surging upward.

opioid overdose deaths Rose 50%. 2021 then another 30%. 2022 it's gotten so bad that in the. county where Portland is there were more. deaths during the pandemic from. overdoses than from covid W and even for. people who had supported this. decriminalization movement they're. starting to rethink their. position before long there's a rising.

call in Oregon to get rid of measure 110. altoe we'll be right. back so Mike as people start calling for. measure 110 to be ruled back I'm. wondering were they right to point the. finger at this law was measure 110.

really to blame for what was happening. in Oregon you know it's really hard to. say the passage of. 110 is happening at the same time that. these other forces are sort of colliding. in Oregon you know we have the pandemic. which is contributing to societal. struggles exacerbating problems on the. streets we have fentanyl which has been. spreading around the country it's. particularly addictive it's super cheap. it's deadly and around the time that.

measure 110 passed it was really. starting to Surge in Oregon and we have. this other reality that measure 110 was. really supposed to be two parts and. while the decriminalization component. had been put into place the other half. of the bill the investments in drug. treatment were still struggling to get. off the ground just explain that I mean. how much was it struggling to get off. the ground you know the state agency. that was in charge of organizing the.

effort of directing the tax revenue it's. also the same agency that was at the. same time in charge of the state's covid. response and distributing vaccines at. the time there were delays in organizing. how that Revenue was going to be. distributed and then later on even when. that money did go out the door the drug. treatment organizations that received it. they found themselves struggling to find. workers to actually do the job H right. another way perhaps that the pandemic.

collides with all this right and so you. have these you know the. decriminalization component may have. happened just a few months after the. bill was passed but years after the bill. was passed there's still a fledgling. effort to get these treatment programs. the funding and the resources and the. growth they need to actually have a. powerful impact H so there are a number. of reasons you're saying why the problem. of drug use and Drug overdoses get worse. in the after math of measure 110 and one.

of them seems to be that the measure. itself isn't really fully implemented. and that this essential half of it. treatment doesn't really ever get up and. running the way it was supposed to so. what people end up seeing on the streets. there in a place like Portland is kind. of one side of it the permissive side of. the law in the form of these desperate. drug infused Street Scenes but not much. of the treatment side that was designed. to to treat it and prevent it yeah and.

the researchers are looking at this and. saying they can't find a link between. the passage of mesure 110 and these. Rising overdose. numbers but to a lot of Voters it. doesn't really matter and one thing. that's really striking is how many. progressives in the state really start. taking the position that it's time to. make major changes to this measure like. who well we have a new governor. Progressive Tina cotek voters did not.

vote to say it's okay to use drugs out. in public she had been supportive of the. decriminalization component of measure. 110 but she starts promoting the idea of. really being tougher on drugs that the. sort of public drug use that people are. seeing on the streets is not acceptable. behavior we don't allow for alcohol we. don't allow for marijuana why would we. allow it for other types of drugs so. unintended consequence of 110 needs to. get fixed you know another notable. figure you're shifting on this issue is.

that local district attorney Mike. Schmidt in Portland I do think that we. need to take a hard look at open use on. our streets I think it's time to. recognize that that doesn't make people. feel safe now starts coming out to tell. lawmakers that we really do need to have. some sort of criminal penalty here to. ban this public drug use we're seeing in. the city so I think looking at open use. on our street is another area where we. should maybe look at changing the law a. little bit and as that shift is. happening we have new polling that.

reflects frustration it's clear to. everyone that voter opinion has shifted. on this 56% of oregonians say enough is. enough get rid of it already and. Democratic lawmakers leadership you know. they're starting to see the writing on. the wall so by last fall just a few. months ago there's a bipartisan group of. lawmakers saying that they're ready to. pass legislation that would effectively. roll back measure. 110.

and specifically what would this. legislation do and and how would it do. it the bill proposed to rec criminalize. possession of hard drugs that could. result in jail sentences of up to 180. days but the measure is also designed to. offer a whole range of opportunities for. someone caught with drugs to avoid. criminal penalties to avoid a criminal. record the idea was that local law. enforcement could potentially choose to.

take someone directly to treatment. instead of to jail for those who do end. up within the court system the hope is. to create a whole range of off-ramps. from Criminal prosecution someone could. request probation complete treatment and. then have the charges dismissed even. those who sort of go through the. treatment and stumble or they don't show. up or they fail they are offered. additional chances along the way to get. treatment. instead of jail time so it's not a total.

roll back and re criminalization but. it's a roll back and it is a form of Rec. criminalization that's right and this. sets off really some of the most. emotional and personal debate you will. ever see in a state. legislature thank you everybody for. being here today this meeting is going. to go till 9:00 tonight or until we run. out of public testimony whichever comes. first you have supporters of the role. back saying that decriminalization was a.

failure I've watched firsthand the. crisis unfold outside my doors not only. are most vulnerable populations dying in. numbers we've never seen but you've. asked the community at large to. normalize walking by dead bodies on the. sidewalk normalized being chased by. people high on meth wielding machetes. they're describing horrific scenes. they've witnessed on the street as a. concerned father I drive down Lancaster. every morning to take my kid to school. and I see people in bus stops smoking f. and I see kids waiting to the side.

because they can't use the bus stops. because they're telling stories of. family members struggling with addiction. one of my sons uh Taylor marck he died. at the age of 24 due to a fentanyl. overdose they describe people who could. not help themselves when Taylor was. using he was in what we would call his. drug brain he wouldn't have made a. decision to look at a card and call a. treatment center they are really argue. that there needs to be some sort of. consequence in order to compel people.

towards treatment I am about to. celebrate 5 years clean in August I have. been through the system myself here in. Maran County I had about 15 years in a. non Maran County Jail one woman actually. described her own personal story of. addiction and had it not been for the. accountability piece when I did get. clean almost 5 years ago and the fear of. going back to prison and never seeing my. son again I wouldn't be sitting here. today she says the fear of going back to. prison and not seeing her son was the. reason that she was motivated to get.

clean H so these are members of the. community including former drug users. saying we think decriminalization has. been a mistake because we need the. deterrent of criminal charges yeah and. at the same time opponents are also. filling these hearing rooms many tonight. have said that the status quo is not. working and I agree the status quo is. not working because there aren't enough. treatment beds available people said all. those treatment programs that were.

promised they're still not in place so. while you can use whatever language you. want in order to dress up what you're. doing the fact is what you're choosing. to do is to place addicts in jail and so. even if you have a bill that says there. are off ramps to get people out of jail. and into treatment those don't yet exist. and so people will be languishing in. jail because people are still going to. die they're just going to die in jail. cells instead of on a street corner and. people share again very personal stories.

as the eldest daughter of a woman who. struggled with addiction almost my. entire life in overdose 3 years ago I. know firsthand the need for healing jail. never worked for my mom people describe. stories of family members who had been. addicted and gone through criminal. convictions and prosecutions and found. that had not provided them help to get. them out of their struggles but had. rather prolonged them as a mother I have. witnessed my son's struggle with opioid. use disorder since.

2008 I can say assuredly that the. biggest barrier to stability my son has. faced has been his involvement in the. criminal justice system and it left them. with trauma and stigma conviction and. made it harder for them to find. stability in housing or jobs if drugs. are re criminalized all it would take is. one momentary slip for his many years of. hard work and progress to be lost and. opponents of the roll back there warning. that the state is effectively on the.

path here to setting up War on Drugs 2.0. 50 years of the War on Drugs has not. fixed our addiction crisis 50 years of. disproportionately harming black and. brown. oregonians how will the solutions you. are proposing be different I heard a lot. of people in 2020 say that they believe. black lives matter but you don't if you. pass something like this you they're. warning that the racial disparity are. going to come back and it's going to. upend lives thank you members anything.

to add before we. conclude so what ends up being the final. vote in the legislature the bill passed. pretty swiftly by wide margins in both. the house and the Senate and now. Governor kotek has signaled that she's. ready to sign it so measure 110 is. effectively dead now that's right and.

where Mike does that leave the broader. movement that you described earlier as. so excited about the passage of 110 in. Oregon that Advocate who said this was. taking a sledgehammer to the old regime. the old War on Drugs I mean what does. this do to the hopes of decriminalizing. hard drugs more. broadly I mean this whole experiment in. Oregon has really been quite a.

devastating setback to the. decriminalization movement you know a. lot of other states were watching Oregon. to see whether it was a pathway to. success whether they could replicate the. model whether they should be the next. ones to be decriminalizing in their. state and. now all of those seem to be off the. table you know there are not lawmakers. moving toward decriminalization and same. with voters you know that ballot.

initiative that Advocates had hoped to. pass in California did decriminalize. drugs this year. now instead it's the opposite Advocates. are now facing the prospect of battling. an initiative that would actually. increase drug penalties you know in. cities all up and down the West Coast. there's sort of an effort to crack down. once again in San Francisco we saw the. mayor pressing to arrest drug us saying. that tough love is sometimes needed.

voters there last week approved a. measure to require drug screening for. welfare recipients W that's the kind of. policy we often see Republicans. proposing not people in a progressive. City like San Francisco right so there's. been a major shift here that has served. as quite the setback for people looking. to end criminal penalties for those. possessing drugs but Mike because this. was such a flawed roll out of measure.

110 in Oregon it feels like it's hard to. know whether this was a flawed idea I. mean there's something a little bit. tragic about it in that sense because. measure 110 never really functions the. way it was supposed to have so we don't. really have a model for a successful. implementation of decriminalization and. treatment of hard drugs upon which the. public can judge whether the basic iic. of this is sound right and instead we're.

getting a backlash to a poorly executed. version of this that has seemed to quash. the entire project yeah when I was down. at the state capital uh in recent days. was talking to some lawmakers who said. that given the lack of the state's. treatment options back in 2020 Oregon. was the worst place to try a. decriminalization experiment h. some of those lawmakers hope that maybe.

one day once the treatment programs are. placed and they're working maybe they. could once again explore removing those. criminal penalties the argument here. basically is that in an Ideal World. somebody would execute a plan like. measure 110 as it was fully envisioned. in a place that could supported and then. we could say whether once and for all. this actually works or it doesn't. yeah but it feels like it's going to be.

a long time before we get there. [Music]. again well Mike thank you very much we. appreciate it thank. [Music]. you.

[Music]. we'll be right. back here's what else you need to know. today in defiance of their party leader. Donald Trump House Republicans are.

pushing forward with bipartisan. legislation that would force the Chinese. owners of Tik Tok to sell off the. popular platform or face having it. banned in the United States both. Congressional Republicans and Democrats. argue that Tik Tock is a national. security threat because of its ties to. the Chinese government but Trump who was. highly critical of Tik Tok as president. now opposes the legislation following a. meeting a few weeks ago with a major Tik.

Tok. investor and an effort by the British. royal family to diffuse rumors about the. health of Catherine Princess of Wales. backfired on Monday when she was forced. to acknowledge that she had digitally. altered a photograph of herself and her. children that was released over the. weekend Catherine who had surgery in. January has not made any public. appearances in months setting off Global. speculation about her well-being the.

release of the photograph appeared timed. to address those concerns until news. agencies discovered it had been altered. in a statement Catherine apologized for. manipulating the. image today's episode was produced by. Stella tan Shannon Lynn and summer tamod. with help from mu Z it was edited by Liz. oalen fact check by su Susan Lee. contains original music by Mary Lozano.

and Dan Powell and was engineered by. Chris Wood our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben Lans of. [Music]. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Michael Babar see you. [Music]. tomorrow.