“We owe it to Oregonians to make sure that the voters that passed ballot measures are getting what they asked for in a more timely, transparent and accountable manner.”
By Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon lawmakers and providers who serve people with drug and alcohol addictions have a common goal: making the state’s decriminalization drug law work.
Measure 110, the state’s first-in-the-nation approach to drug addiction, has faced a rocky start since voters approved it in 2020, with a slow rollout of grants and confusion about the roles of the Oregon Health Authority and the oversight council charged with awarding grants to providers who offer treatment, counseling and peer services to people who cannot afford it.
The measure decriminalized low-level drug possession and uses more than $100 million annually of cannabis tax revenue to get people treatment instead of a trip to jail.
But Oregon remains awash in drugs and property crime is rampant, and a state audit found widespread problems with the roll out.
A proposal, House Bill 2513, seeks to fix many of the measure’s problems that were flagged in the secretary of state’s audit in January.
Measure 110 created a new approach to dealing with the drug
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