PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s first-in-the-nation experiment with drug decriminalization is coming to an end Sunday, when possessing small amounts of hard drugs will once again become a crime. The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the recriminalization law in March, overhauling a measure approved by 58% of voters in 2020 that made possessing illicit drugs like heroin punishable by a ticket and a maximum $100 fine.
The measure directed hundreds of millions of dollars in cannabis tax revenue toward addiction services, but the money was slow to get out the door at a time when the fentanyl crisis was causing a spike in deadly overdoses and health officials — grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic — were struggling to stand up the new treatment system, state auditors found . The new law taking effect Sunday, which passed with the support of Republican lawmakers who had long opposed decriminalization, makes so-called personal use possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. It aims to make it easier for police to crack down on drug use in public and introduced harsher penalties for selling drugs near places such as parks.
Supporters of decriminalization say treatment is more effective than jail in helping people overcome addiction and that the decadeslong approach of arresting people for possessing and using drugs hasn’t worked. The new law establishes ways for treatment alternatives to criminal penalties. But it only encouraged, rather than mand.