https://abcnews.go.com/US/oregons-drug-decriminalization-law...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/drug-test-we...
Links to an article about how Oregon is partially rolling back their drug decriminalization policy.
1. Oregon never decriminalized drugs and 2. The policy was supposed to implement treatment programs that never materialized.
Further as an Oregonian. No one voted for people to be able to openly use drugs wherever they wanted, but most didn’t realize that once possession was decriminalized, smoking fentanyl on public transit was suddenly not in violation of any law on the books. No one voted for that, they just didn’t know it was on the table.
Although there were exceptions for limiting public alcohol use in proximity to schools and such, there were no such exceptions for hard drugs (since they were already illegal).
Had the legislature implemented this they would have been able to spend time investigating potential problems such as these and plan for a smoother rollout.
I voted for and still support measure 110 in principle. I would also be just fine with laws criminalizing public use. The two are perfectly compatible policies.
On the one hand, I agree, but on the flip side decriminalization is not something I would expect from our elected officials at any point this decade. The voters are able to push the envelope in ways that risk-averse career politicians simply will not.
We may finally see substantive election finance reform in Oregon (we lag dramatically behind most of the rest of the nation) come November due to our initiative system. IIRC, Cannabis legalization was another one that the citizens of Oregon pushed through and only then did the legislature get it's butt in gear and write comprehensive legislation. Same with decriminalized and medicalized psychedelics.
If we didn't have such dysfunction at the state level due to republican state reps continued antics protesting and not showing up to deny a quorum, it's entirely possible that the issues with measure 110 could have been sorted out at the capital before public opinion had time to do the full 180 on decrim.
It's a shame, but as an Oregonian with a drug felony from over a decade ago, I'm happy with the progress of making possession of personal amounts of hard drugs a misdemeanor instead of a felony. Two steps forward and one step back is still progress.