Four years after Oregon passed a landmark law reclassifying drug use as a health issue, its biggest city is in the throes of a full-blown opioid epidemic
Four years after decriminalizing most hard drugs, lawmakers in Oregon are instituting a 90-day state of emergency in the state’s biggest city to combat rampant, open-air fentanyl use.
Officials in Portland will open a cross-agency “command center” in the center of downtown as part of an executive order issued Tuesday by Gov. Tina Kotek, who said the crisis was creating “economic and reputational harm” to residents, businesses, and visitors.
“Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,” Kotek said in a statement.
The move comes nearly four years after Oregon passed a landmark law that decriminalized the use of most hard drugs, including fentanyl.
Measure 110 made personal, non-commercial possession a misdemeanor that carries a maximum fine of $100 and established treatment and recovery programs partially funded by the state’s marijuana tax revenue.
At the time, the measure was heralded as a breakthrough in using the law to reclassify drug addiction as a health issue, rather than a crime.
The law states that police are supposed to refer drug users for treatment rather than arrest them. But in practice, according to the New York Times, many users just ignore the referral.