In the last two years, Oregon has become famous for being the only state in the U.S. to decriminalize all hard drugs. Ballot measure 110 decriminalized the possession and use of small amounts of all drugs including, but not limited to: cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, methamphetamine, and LSD. The law also included measures for supporting addiction recovery centers. However, since the passing of the measure, there’s been a dramatic increase in overdoses and overall drug abuse in the state. This has led many to believe that the law put in place was a mistake and needs to be repealed. According to the Oregon Capital Chronicle’, the amount of overdoses in Oregon have increased from 280 in 2019 to 739 within the last year. Many Republicans in the state see these statistics as evidence of its ineffectiveness, and want to repeal the law— bringing Oregon back in line with the greater federal stance on hard drugs.
However, I think more important details about measure 110 need to be made clear. Measure 110 only decriminalized the possession and use of small amounts of drugs, but did not legalize the production and sale of these drugs. Currently, if someone were accused of producing and/or selling a hard drug like heroin, they could be sentenced for up to 20 years in prison. This has led many people living in the state to rely on unsafe methods of obtaining these drugs, like buying them from the black market. Many drugs obtained on the black market are laced with fentanyl, an extremely dangerous drug that can easily lead to an overdose if combined with other substances.
If the state government in Oregon legalized the production and sale of small amounts of these drugs, overdose numbers might decrease, since obtaining these drugs would be safer and more predictable. However, at the same time, treatment services need to be made more widely available in order to help those with substance addictions and lower their chances of overdosing in the first place. What makes matters worse is that federal law still bans the possession and use of all substances, which allows the black market to continue to thrive nationwide. Until federal law falls in line with measure 110— relaxing criminal punishment on these drugs— people in states all across the U.S. will continue to rely on the black market to obtain them. If the Oregon state government decides not to legalize the sale and production of these hard drugs, then they need to invest even more money into treatment services in order to decrease the reliance on the black market. Oregon should not return to unjustly incarcerating people for mere possession of these drugs. Instead, they need to find ways to reduce the reliance on these substances that don’t include criminalization.
Matt Degnan is from St. Paul Minn.
His major is undeclared.
