“The truth is addiction rates and overdoses rocketed”: Oregon recriminalises drug possession

The US state of Oregon has recriminalised drug possession, following a rocketing rate of overdoses, and an increase in public drug use and homelessness. Governor Tina Kotek on Monday signed into law a new measure to restore criminal penalties for drug possession, overturning the 2020 voter initiative which sought to find alternatives other than jail for drug users.

It comes just three years after the famously liberal state passed Measure 110 in 2020, decriminalising drugs including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine for personal use in favour of an emphasis on addiction treatment. While seen as the most liberal effort in the US to decriminalise drugs, the legislation saw the number of overdoses rocket – prompting lawmakers and supporters to walk back their advocacy for the law.

While the measure to decriminalise hard drugs was backed by 58 per cent of voters in the state, in 2023, an Emerson poll showed that a shift in public opinion had taken place. 53 per cent of voters in Oregon backed a repeal of the law in 2023.

The 2020 law offered treatment as an alternative penalty for drug possession whilst also lowering criminal penalties. Yet, reports indicate that the city struggled from increasing homelessness, overdoses, and fentanyl-related deaths, with businesses also leaving the area, according to the New York Times. The paper reports that the law led to a “deluge of overdose deaths and frequent chos in the streets of Portland.”

Just one year after the popular law was implemented, drug overdoses saw a spike of 50 per cent, according to the state’s statistics. Overdose deaths surged by almost 50 per cent, from 1,171 in 2021, when possession of drugs for personal use was decriminalised – to 1,683 in October 2023, according to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Images of people slumped in front of stores in cities like Portland, and images of individuals openly using drugs on streets and in public places began to make front pages of national media, prompting concern about the repercussions of Measure 110.

The number of homeless people in Portland also rose to almost 6,300 last year – representing an increase of 65 per cent on 2015. In 2023, Oregon also ranked last in the US in capacity for addiction treatment.

Oregon’s most populous city, Portland, was a strong backer of Measure 110, with three-quarters of the city’s population voting in favour of the law in 2020. The city’s Mayor, Ted Wheeler, placed the blame for problems with the law’s implementation and not the basis of the legislation. He told the New York Times that: “The truth is that addiction rates and overdoses rocketed.”

“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. 

Asked about his previous support for the measure, he said: “I was cautiously optimistic. I’ve been around enough to know that it’s always in the implementation.”

“To decriminalise the use of drugs before you actually had the treatment services in place was obviously a huge mistake,” the politician added.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the way that should have been structured is that it would create the mechanism for funding,” Portland’s Mayor added. 

“The state would build up its behavioural health services, and when it reached a certain threshold, then they would decriminalize. It shouldn’t have gone the other way around.” 

“The truth is that addiction rates and overdose rates skyrocketed,” Wheeler admitted.

However, the Democrat politician said he personally did not attribute “all of that” to the passage of Measure 110. As noted by the New York Times, over the past 12 months, Wheeler attempted to restore order in the city – fighting a court battle to ban daytime camping in Portland, and trying to set up mass shelter locations for those without housing.

He also pushed to increase the law enforcement presence in Oregon’s largest city and to get tough on crime. In the end, the paper notes, he concluded “that it was time to restore criminal penalties for hard drug possession.”

Mr Wheeler said recriminalisation was a “common sense approach,” adding: “We must make it clear that people cannot use drugs in public spaces.”

“Clearly, this is not working as it was intended to,” Mr Wheeler said of Measure 110.

Taking to X, Mr Wheeler described the legislation as “a step in the right direction.”

This is a step in the right direction to provide our first responders with the tools needed to keep Portlanders safe while also providing important resources for those who need help. https://t.co/9EH5TEhwZN

— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) April 1, 2024

The new law, signed this week, will mean that those caught with small amounts of drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine could face up to 180 days in jail. It goes into effect on 1 September.

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson singled out Oregon as an example of “feel good policies” producing “disastrously counterproductive results.”

“Oh look: feel good policies designed by faux-compassionate incompetents produce disastrously counterproductive results (but their fuzzy little hearts were in the right place actually I don’t think so),” the commentator wrote on X.

Oh look: feel good policies designed by faux-compassionate incompetents produce disastrously counterproductive results (but their fuzzy little hearts were in the right place actually I don't think so): https://t.co/mKsXcxbtrh

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) April 4, 2024