SALEM, Oregon. (AP) – Police in Oregon can no longer arrest anyone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs as a ballot measure that made them decriminalized in effect Monday.
Instead, those in possession would be fined $ 100 or a health assessment that could lead to addiction counseling. Proponents of the vote, which Oregon voters passed by a wide margin in November, called it a revolutionary move for the United States.
“Today the first domino of our brutal and inhumane war on drugs has fallen, which is expected to trigger a cascade of other efforts that focus on health rather than criminalization,” said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who lead the lead. had initiative on the vote.
The backers of Ballot Measure 110 said treatment should be a priority and criminalizing drug possession did not work. Besides the prospect of incarceration, having a criminal record makes it difficult to find housing and work and can haunt a person for a lifetime.
Two dozen prosecutors had opposed the measure, saying it was reckless and would lead to greater acceptance of dangerous drugs.
Rather than being arrested, those found by police with amounts of drugs for personal use would face a civil quote, “like a traffic ticket,” and not a criminal mention, said Matt Sutton, drug spokesman. Policy Alliance.
Under the new system, addiction recovery centers will be tasked with “examining the acute needs of people using drugs and assessing and addressing any ongoing needs through intensive case management and linking with care and services.”
The addiction centers will be funded with millions of dollars in tax revenue from Oregon’s legalized marijuana industry. That diverts some funds from other programs and entities that already receive it, such as schools.
The ballot measure limits the amount of marijuana tax revenue that schools receive; alcoholism and drug mental health services; the state police; and cities and counties receive $ 45 million annually with the remainder going to a Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund.
The fund will be inundated with money if the marijuana sales trend continues as expected.
In fiscal year 2020, marijuana tax revenues peaked at $ 133 million, a 30% increase from the previous year and a 545% increase from 2016, when potty tax was collected from legal, registered recreational marijuana companies statewide.
The other recipients of marijuana tax revenue now say that once assessment and associated treatment options are in place, the distribution of that revenue deserves a different look. A leading legislator agrees.
“In the future, if Oregon treatment programs become fully funded, the state should evaluate which other services would benefit from our continuously growing marijuana tax revenues,” said John Larson, president of the Oregon Education Association.
Larson said a “balanced approach to budgeting” will support communities and students. The OEA union represents approximately 44,000 educators.
State Senator Floyd Prozanski, chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Ballot Paper Measure 110 Implementation, said he expects revenue from cannabis taxes in Oregon to increase exponentially if recreational marijuana is legalized in the United States. He expects this to happen within four years.
That would make the Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund “oversaturated with revenue,” as out-of-state consumers legally purchase Oregon’s potent marijuana, Prozanski said in a telephone interview.
“It would be foolish for us as the legislature to think that the voters would want us to invest hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in a program that at the time I would think would have a gold standard” in addiction recovery, said the Democrat.
But Sutton noted that in addition to traditional treatments, the fund would also be spent on housing and job search assistance to provide long-term stability to those struggling with addiction.
“I can’t imagine a situation where this fund will become oversaturated anytime soon,” Sutton said.
Oregon is a pioneer in drug law liberalization. It was the first state, in 1973, to decriminalize marijuana possession. In 2014, Oregon voters approved a ballot paper to legalize recreational use of marijuana. But Sutton said there are no plans to pursue legalization and a regulated hard drug market in Oregon.
Addiction recovery centers must be available October 1. One center should be established within each existing coordinated service area of the healthcare organization.
After decriminalization, the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimates that about 3,700 fewer Oregonians will be convicted each year of felony or felony possession of controlled substances. The measure is also likely to significantly reduce racial and ethnic disparities in convictions and arrests, the state commission said.
Drugs specified by the measure include LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, methadone, oxycodone and MDMA – commonly known as ecstasy.
While this approach is new in the United States, several countries, including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, according to the United Nations.
The decriminalization of Portugal in 2000 did not lead to an increase in drug use. The number of drug addicts declined, while the number of people treated for drug addiction in the country increased by 20% between 2001 and 2008 and then stabilized, Portuguese officials said.
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