The country's first experiment with state-level decriminalization of drug possession is over, but what will change -- other than more drug arrests?

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The nation's first experiment with state-level decriminalization of drug possession is now over. As of Sunday, drug possession is now again a criminal offense, a misdemeanor, thanks to a measure passed by the Democratic-led legislature this past spring, House Bill 4002.

That bill undid the decriminalization aspect of Measure 110, which voters passed in 2020. Measure 110 also funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in legal marijuana tax revenues into drug treatment and harm reduction services. Still, the state was slow to gear up its treatment capacity, the lowest in the nation when the initiative took effect.

The state's inability to deliver treatment services, along with rising homelessness, increasing public drug use, the disruptions of the pandemic, and a sharp rise in overdose deaths as fentanyl belatedly entered the Pacific Northwest market all contributed to rising dissatisfaction with decriminalization. An effort earlier this year by some deep-pocketed Portland business interests and political entrepreneurs to put a recriminalization initiative on the ballot this year prompted the legislature to act preemptively.

Before the 2024 session, the state legislature created the Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response specifically to consider bills relating to the increase in opioid addiction and overdoses in Oregon, especially relating to fentanyl. Ultimately, the committee proposed and legislators passed HB 4002, which includes provisions relating to misdemeanors, drug treatment programs, prescriptions, behavioral health workers, and more. Legislators also passed HB 5204, which appropriates over $200 million to fund various parts of HB 4002, plus several other bills related to opioids or addiction.

More than 7,000 people were cited for drug possession under decriminalization, which means there are 7,000 people not arrested on drug charges. But only a tiny number -- less than a hundred -- completed drug treatment and the vast majority of those receiving citations never paid their fines.

Supporters of ending decriminalization pronounced themselves pleased.

"This legislation will save lives and make our communities safer," said House Majority Leader Ben Bowman. "But the work is not over. This crisis was created over decades, and it won't be solved overnight. We need to remain laser-focused on getting people the treatment they need -- and we need to make sure public spaces are safe and accessible for everyone to enjoy."

"Today marks a return to a justice system that holds people accountable for possessing or using hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl," said Rep. Kevin Mannix (R), a key bill supporter. "We must now focus on increasing treatment options to address addiction effectively," he said.

Supporters of Measure 110, including the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which had invested more than $4 million to get it passed, were saddened. "It's easier for the legislature to blame and stigmatize and disappear people into jails than to fix the problem they had a hand in creating," said DPA's Emily Kaltenbach.

Under HB 4002, cities and counties can engage in "deflection," with police officers having the discretion to point people caught with drugs toward treatment instead of arresting them. But not all localities have embraced such programs, and some, such as Jackson and Josephine counties in southern Oregon, will not begin deflection programs for weeks or months -- even as drug arrests commence.

Front-line addiction recovery providers are calling on leaders to create the real health-centered deflection programs they promised, and to look toward existing, successful deflection programs as models that can be built out across the state.

"In downtown Portland, addiction recovery providers and the Portland Police Central Bike Squad have been partnering since December of 2023 to connect more than 150 people living outside to vital services," said Janie Gullickson, Executive Director of the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon. "This is a true example of deflection wherein street outreach is happening proactively to community members, along with outreach workers taking calls from law enforcement to connect with people who need help. In just over a dozen individual shifts the program has successfully connected more than 150 people struggling with addiction and living outside with vital services, from medical detox and basic needs referrals, to addiction treatment, mental health and medical care, and even long term housing."

"With less than one year of operations at Recovery Works' Measure 110-funded medical detox center in SE Portland, our team has provided over 900 treatments, the majority to individuals struggling with deadly fentanyl addictions," said Joe Bazeghi of Recovery Works NW. "This single facility expanded medical detox capacity in the Portland Metro Area by nearly 20 percent and would not have been possible without support from Measure 110. The Police-Provider Connection Project has proven a successful means of deflecting individuals in need of such services out of our overburdened courts and jails and into services where sustained recovery is more possible. We need to continue to support evidence-based interventions to reduce drug-related deaths in our community. In the age of illicit fentanyl, with unintentional drug overdose killing more young Americans than any other cause, this is no time to go backward."

Deflection is only vaguely defined in HB 4002, giving each separate county the ability to interpret the term however they want, or to go back to failed policies of arresting people with a health care issue. This has already created confusion among stakeholders and will be hard to track results.

"Lawmakers promised that people using drugs would be immediately connected to care and avoid the criminal justice system. That’s not what is being implemented on the ground," said Tera Hurst, Executive Director of the Health Justice Recovery Alliance. "We can't arrest our way out of the overdose crisis. We all agree that addiction is a healthcare issue, and therefore should be treated as one. People having to wait for a court date to get care is only going to result in more tragic and senseless deaths. Our communities deserve serious solutions… not a slush fund for more prosecutors."

The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission's 

"The Police-Provider Joint Connection Project is working to connect people to care. Yet our elected leaders chose to solve the public health problem with a political solution that has already been tried and didn’t work," said Fernando Peña, Executive Director of Northwest Instituto Latino. "HB 4002 made a promise to our communities to create more pathways to care, not to fund endless onramps into the system. Many of the new programs claim to be deflection, but they’re only recreating the same system that causes irreparable harm to Black, Latinx, and other communities of color. The system as it currently sits will have extremely inequitable outcomes, depending on the time of day you’re caught with drugs, and what County you happen to be in. This is no way to treat Oregonians in crisis."