A little less than one year ago I first wrote about Oregon's experiment with the decriminalization of street drugs, including meth, cocaine, and heroin www.dailykos.com/... It had been many years since I and my family had lived there; even now I miss the incredible natural beauty of that state. It really was the most astoundingly lovely place I've ever lived in. But those memories are sadly intermixed with other, painful recollections. The terrible damage I saw first hand, caused by illicit drugs, especially meth. The suffering and devastation caused by rampant addiction there was horrifying beyond description.
Oregon's Measure 110 passed with 59% voter approval in 2020. The measure made possession of personal use amounts of hard drugs punishable with a ticket and a $100 fine. Instead of sending addicts to prison, the measure directed that hundreds of millions of dollars, from taxes collected on the sale of legal cannabis, would be directed towards treatment for addiction. The idea was that by providing addicted people with treatment and other support, a better alternative would be created. One supplanting the failed "war on drugs" with it's endless cycle of imprisonment, occasional court ordered rehab, and eventual recidivism. A new and more effective plan would be available for the rest of the country to pursue, with Oregon leading the way. It would have been a beacon of hope for the nation in it's struggle to deal with the scourge of addiction.
Except that's not what happened.
Around the same time that Measure 110 passed, Oregon along with the rest of the US was hit by Covid. Fentanyl showed up and quickly gained huge popularity with drug users. Affordable housing all but disappeared, homelessness exploded. Any one of these things would be difficult enough to cope with; all of them at once proved overwhelming. Oregon simply couldn't deal with it all. The entire country couldn't deal with it, and years later we are still seeing the effects of these things. Funding for the planned addiction treatment and other services was slow to arrive. By the time it did, the state was already spinning more plates than it could manage. Meanwhile, the addiction crisis worsened.
The success of Measure 110 was largely predicated on the belief that many, even most, addicts truly want to stop using. I like to think that, in their saner moments of clarity, all addicts desire to be free of their enslavement. But I've seen first hand and far too often how those moments pass, and are quickly forgotten. The addict continues to use, claims that they need it, that they enjoy it, and that they have no interest in stopping. And if you- the spouse, the parent, the child, the sibling, the friend- don't like it, too bad. Don't let the door hit you on your way out.
In all my life I've only met one addict who has managed to get and stay clean. He's an alcoholic whose type 2 diabetes, left untreated for many years, resulted in blindness and having both feet amputated. He can no longer get to the corner store for a case or three of cheap beer. And nobody else will get it for him. That was what it took for him stop using. For some nothing short of death will do it.
That's what addiction can do to a person. They're incapable of stopping unless it's forced upon them.
What eventually happened in Oregon was an absolute nightmare. Overdose deaths skyrocketed. Arrests for dealing and using in public sharply increased. Arrests for violent crimes, domestic violence, burglaries, unacceptable behaviors in public places...addicts believed they could use their substances freely, with near impunity. And they ran wild. Their families and friends were, as always, left to deal with the fallout alone. Collateral damage.
The very things I had predicted, came to pass.
I would very much prefer to have been proven wrong.
Oregon's House Bill 4002 reversing Measure 110 was signed by Governor Tina Kotek on 1 April, and is set to take effect on 1 September 2024.
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