Oregon lawmakers begin push to make drug possession a crime again

SALEM, Ore. -- A key legislative committee charged with addressing Measure 110 shortcomings on Tuesday made it official: Democratic lawmakers announced they would press ahead with a proposal to make minor drug possession a crime again.

The plan would mean the end of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization policy, which voters passed in 2020 by a wide margin after supporters made a successful pitch that Measure 110 would provide a more humane public health approach to drug addiction.

Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, a Beaverton Democrat, helped craft the recriminalization proposal and announced the long-awaited plan during a committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The proposal is part of a slate of addiction and mental health-related policies that Lieber and her colleagues hope to move through what’s shaping up to be an ambitious short session next month.

“The drug crisis in Oregon right now is unacceptable,” Lieber said in an interview. “We cannot go back to the failed war on drugs. We’ve got people dying of overdoses in the street. We need to develop a plan that urgently expands access to treatment.”

She said she sought to pull together a “very inclusive sort of bipartisan process, understanding that we are not going to be able to wave a magic wand and solve this problem overnight.”

The Legislature must prioritize prevention, treatment access and efforts to clean up trash and graffiti, Lieber said. She also wants to ensure police have the authority to confiscate street drugs, she said.

Among the policy proposals:

— Make minor drug possession a Class C misdemeanor and create opportunities for people to get help before they face arrest or prosecution. Class C misdemeanors are the lowest level of misdemeanor and carry a penalty of up to 30 days in jail.

— Prohibiting health insurers, health benefit plans and coordinated care organizations from requiring prior authorization for drugs used to treat substance use disorders.

— Prohibiting long-term care facilities and residential facilities from refusing to admit people who are on medication-assisted treatment for addiction, such as buprenorphine and methadone.

— Allowing pharmacists to prescribe and dispense emergency refills of drugs used to treat opioid use disorders in certain circumstances.

— Requiring the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission, a state agency intended to improve the effectiveness of substance use disorder prevention and recovery services, to study barriers to treatment for youths.

— Making it easier to prosecute drug dealers.

— Imposing tougher sentences for people who deal drugs near parks, homeless shelters and treatment facilities.

Lawmakers also plan to seek funding for “shovel ready” treatment projects slated to open next year and money for a statewide prevention campaign. Other bills under consideration for the short session would expand jail access to medications used to treat addiction and build more housing for people in substance abuse recovery.

The Legislature faces intense pressure to act as public support for Measure 110 has plunged over time as fentanyl use has surged, eclipsing heroin. The law has become intertwined with the state of downtown Portland, where leaders have struggled to address public drug use and fentanyl overdoses.

A spokesperson Gov. Tina Kotek said the governor “looks forward to reviewing the proposal and doesn’t have a position at this time.”

Already, Measure 110 advocates are blasting the proposal, saying treating low-level drug possession as a misdemeanor crime only punishes people struggling with substance abuse addiction.

“I think it’s enormously tragic,” said Mercedes Elizalde, director of advocacy for the Latino Network, a statewide advocacy organization. “It’s a huge distraction from the real problem, which is access to healthcare and I think it will cause far more harm in our communities, which is why we voted to remove it in the first place.”

She said making drug possession a crime ignores the disproportionate harm to people of color.

The legislative plan isn’t enough to satisfy those backing a well-funded effort to put the issue to voters later this year in a ballot measure.

Portland real estate mogul Jordan Schnitzer said while he applauds legislators for taking on decriminalization, he is skeptical that making drug possession the lowest-level misdemeanor will make much of an impact. Schnitzer has donated $50,000 to the Coalition to Fix and Improve Measure110, according to campaign finance records.

“If we have to err, it’s better to err on the side of more criminalizing than less,” he said. “We have got to put a stop to the human tragedy and the blight.”

He said police and the criminal justice system aren’t likely to prioritize low-level misdemeanors.

“I am worried that the legislators will try to do something to appease and say we tackled this, but what they are going to do doesn’t have enough tough love,” he said.

Columbia Sportswear President and CEO Tim Boyle agreed. Boyle has given $150,000 to the initiative effort, according to state filings.

He said he supports making drug possession a Class A misdemeanor, the highest level misdemeanor, which carries penalties of up to 364 days in jail.

“We really need to get as stiff a penalty as is required to get people into treatment,” he said. “What we are doing today is not working.”

Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson said a Class C misdemeanor charge for drug possession doesn’t give prosecutors the leverage they need to compel people to change.

“For all intents and purposes, it’s exactly the same,” she said. “It really doesn’t do any good.”

The League of Oregon Cities, the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and the Oregon District Attorneys Association also came out against the proposal, saying it doesn’t go far enough.

McMinnville police Chief Matt Scales said the plan “lacks the necessary incentives for individuals struggling with addiction to actively seek help and places our law enforcement officers in the challenging position of engaging without the tools necessary to be effective.”

Tera Hurst, executive director of the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance, said she expects the proposal to offer people diversion before arrest won’t be much different than the way the system works now. Hurst’s coalition of state and national groups supported Measure 110 and included the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which helped fund the campaign for the ballot measure.

Under the current system, people found with small amounts of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs face a ticket on par with a traffic violation.

People cited for drug possession may opt for a substance abuse screening to avoid paying a fine. Few people ever follow up, however, according to state data.

“Unless you do significant education with law enforcement and with (treatment) providers on what exactly you want and need, you are going to have the same sort of results,” Hurst said.

“When someone is in the throes of an addiction in a police stop are they in any kind of mind to be able to really know what the consequences are one way or another?”