Oregon has recriminalised hard drugs as officials admitted their strategy was a “huge mistake” after overdose deaths increased rapidly.
Those found in possession of substances such as heroin or methamphetamine now face up to six months in prison, after Tina Kotek, the Oregon governor, signed the measure into law.
Oregon became the first state in the United States to legalise small amounts of hard drugs, including the deadly opioid fentanyl, which was approved by a public vote in 2020.
However, enthusiasm quickly cooled amid a surge in rough sleeping and crime. In Portland, Oregon’s largest city, businesses have fled the downtown area, where shops are boarded up and homeless encampments are widespread.
Drug overdose deaths increased by about 44 per cent in 2021, according to state figures. The same year, a University of Toronto study concluded that the decriminalisation measure was responsible for 182 unintentional fatal drug overdoses.
Multnomah County, which includes Portland, declared a state of emergency earlier this year when overdose deaths from opioids, including fentanyl, almost doubled.
Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland, said that officials had made a “huge mistake” in decriminalising drugs without making sure there was a safety net for addicts.
“There’s no question that the state botched the implementation,” he told The New York Times.
“The timing couldn’t have been worse. In terms of the botched implementation: to decriminalise the use of drugs before you actually had the treatment services in place was obviously a huge mistake.”
As part of the decriminalisation measure, bodies known as Behavioural Health Resource Networks received about $260 million in public money to support drug addicts.
Oregon is the latest liberal state performing a volte-face on its drug policies. Voters in San Francisco endorsed a move that subjected welfare recipients to drug tests in February.
Mr Wheeler claimed that voters had moved to the Right on drug policies because they “want order restored to their environment” and “are exhausted from feeling like they’re under siege”.
He continued: “You see it particularly amongst young people. I feel it. I think other people feel it, too.
“They have a minimum expectation that where they live is an orderly, safe, secure, prosperous place to be. And if they don’t see it, that is unsettling. They need to have that.”
While Mr Wheeler admitted that “addiction rates and overdose rates skyrocketed” since 2020, he argued that this was not totally a result of Oregon’s liberal drug attitude, citing the Covid pandemic and a lack of investment in health services.
Kate Lieber, a Democrat and majority leader in the state senate, insisted last month that the law needed more time to work.
“We fundamentally haven’t figured out how to have the behavioural health system and the criminal justice system really talk to each other,” she said.
‘It just wasn’t helping’
Portland Police Sergeant Jerry Cioeta said he wasn’t surprised by the decision to roll back decriminalisation, which was unsuccessful because the state didn’t have the “infrastructure” to support addicts.
“You know, it’s frustrating in the sense that we really want to help these people... and we saw that it just wasn’t helping”, he told The Telegraph.
“It wasn’t helping the addiction, it wasn’t helping the businesses, it wasn’t helping our community, it just wasn’t helping anything.”
He added: “The definition of insanity is hitting your head against the wall 100 times and expecting a different outcome... We’re just going to continue trying other things until something works.”
April 02, 2024 at 09:44PM
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Oregon recriminalises hard drugs after huge increase in overdose deaths - The Telegraph
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