In Oregon, critics of drug decriminalization efforts have pointed to increased overdose deaths and a failure to turn police encounters into successful on-ramps to rehab as evidence the measures aren’t working. But Oregon’s political leaders themselves played central roles in failing to deliver on the potential for law enforcement to connect people with lifesaving services under the new measure, ProPublica reports. The court system and the bureaucracy under two governors ignored or rejected proposed solutions such as specialized tickets to highlight treatment information, funding a proposed $50,000 online course that would have instructed cops how to better use the new law. getting police, whose leaders campaigned against the ballot measure, talking with treatment providers after decriminalization passed.
Voters made the broad intent of Measure 110 clear when 58% approved it in November 2020. “People suffering from addiction are more effectively treated with health care services than with criminal punishments,” the ballot measure declared. The measure emphasized that this new health care approach for people living with addiction “includes connecting them to the services they need.” Mike Marshall, director of the rehab and prevention advocacy nonprofit Oregon Recovers, said he considered the threat of jail an important motivator and didn’t want voters to pass Measure 110. But once they did, he was dismayed that state officials didn’t step forward to fulfill the measure’s goals. “They didn't see that the voters gave them this really imperfect tool but were committed to reducing substance use disorder rates and increased access to treatment,” Marshall said. “Instead,” he said, “they simply tried to do the least amount of work to administer it to the letter of the law.”
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