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Oregon law rolling back drug decriminalization set to take effect
Oregon’s experiment with drug decriminalization is coming to an end Sunday.
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. Multnomah County, the state’s most populous and home to Portland, plans to open a temporary center in October where police can drop off people who weren’t committing any other crime but drug possession.
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