“I look forward to helping Oregon law enforcement see this tool as a bridge to recovery,” Holton said. “That`s what it has to be.” “Going forward, when Oregon`s treatment programs reach full funding, the state should evaluate what other services would benefit from our ever-increasing marijuana tax revenues,” John Larson, president of the Oregon Education Association, said in an email. Election 110 will go into effect on Feb. 1, and all eyes are on Oregon as it becomes the first state to decriminalize personal possession of hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone. “For example, when officers go (to a car) and notice immediately. a pipe commonly used to smoke an illegal drug, usually, if a police officer sees this, they would immediately develop a probable cause of a potential crime,” Parosa said. Well, if they`re going to find a pipe that we can only assume contains a residual amount of the drug, that`s nothing more than a violation. Proponents of decriminalizing Oregon cite Portugal as a model for reform. In 2001, Portugal radically changed its approach and decriminalized all drugs. The nation began treating drug addiction as a public health crisis.
There, anyone caught with less than 10 days of drug supply receives mandatory medical treatment. Today, anyone arrested by police with small amounts of hard drugs across Oregon receives a civil quote — like a ticket — not a criminal charge. So if you have up to 2 grams of methamphetamine or cocaine, 40 shots of LSD or oxycodone, up to one gram of heroin, among others, you will receive a quote and a $100 fine. This fine disappears if you agree to undergo a health examination through an addiction treatment hotline, an assessment that could lead to counselling or treatment. Seaman was previously a physician at the Multnomah County Jail in Portland. He says he has often seen a cycle with patients who must have had a cold turkey in prison: they go through rehabilitation in an unfamiliar environment, they are traumatized, and when they are released, they seek medication to heal themselves. The risk of overdose among opioid users is 129 times higher in the first two weeks after their release from prison. “Well, if you were caught with a small amount of drugs, you`d get a quote and it would look like a speeding ticket,” said Tera, executive director of the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance. “We`re going to see more and more people need help because drugs will be more readily available and there`s no one to control them,” said Ferraris, who recently retired as police chief in Woodburn, Oregon.
“Overdoses will increase, crime will increase, and drug trafficking in cartels will continue to thrive along the I-5 corridor.” SALEM, ore. Oregon police can no longer arrest anyone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs, as an election measure that decriminalized them went into effect Monday. Senator Floyd Prozanski, chairman of Senate Judicial and Election Implementation 110, said he expects cannabis tax revenue in Oregon to increase exponentially as recreational marijuana is legalized in the United States. He expects that to happen within four years. Oregon is a pioneer in the liberalization of drug laws. It was the first state to decriminalize marijuana possession in 1973. In 2014, Oregon voters passed a referendum legalizing recreational marijuana use. But Sutton said there are no plans to pursue legalization and a regulated market for hard drugs in Oregon.
Oregon voters passed Bill 110 in November 2020, which decriminalized possession of all drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. In February 2021, the measure came into effect. Two dozen district prosecutors had spoken out against the measure, saying it was reckless and would lead to increased acceptance of dangerous drugs. In 2020, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize drug possession, including hard drugs. Portland District Attorney Michael Schmidt gleefully announced that his office would immediately stop prosecuting drug possession even before the law went into effect, stating, “Previous punitive drug policies and laws have resulted in excessive surveillance of diverse communities, heavy reliance on correctional facilities, and a failure to promote public safety and health.” Less than two years later, Oregon is suffering from the predictable results of this experiment: overdoses are skyrocketing, violent crime is on the rise, and virtually no one is being treated. Over time, those working on the subject in Oregon will be able to tell what works and what doesn`t, and adapt accordingly. “Possession of small amounts of the drug will result in a citation, an electronic violation, whereas previously it could have led to arrest and the possibility of jail time,” Fox said. The Oregon legislature had already made possession of small amounts of hard drugs a misdemeanor, not a felony, here in 2017. But some say full decriminalization has had a demoralizing effect on this work. Because Oregon is the first U.S.
state to decriminalize possession of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs for personal use, its program is seen as a potential model for other states. Under Oregon Poll 109, the “manufacture, supply, and administration” of psilocybin and psilocybin mushrooms was legalized for individuals 21 and older for medical purposes, such as mental health treatment and use in supervised and licensed therapy sessions. [31] [32] “Some people really want decriminalization to lead to sobriety, and what I would say is that decriminalization can lead people down a path where they make the sobriety decision, but our measure of decriminalization, the way we assess whether it succeeds, is when people are no longer criminalized.” Kassandra Frédérique, said the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance. Humphreys believes people should be pressured for treatment if they commit crimes like shoplifting and burglary, but not if they simply use drugs.