Blue-State Withers Away – Far Left Policy Is A DEATH Sentence

In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the US to decriminalize the possession of heavy narcotics, including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. This extreme experiment in breaking the law has been a complete failure.

Though at first oblivious to the apprehensions expressed by Republicans, recovery experts, and Christian organizations over Ballot Measure 110, state Democrats are now prepared to re-legalize drug possession and terminate their four-year trial. Ultimately, the majority of Oregonians support the repeal of the bill.

The “Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act” removed the criminal penalties associated with possessing different amounts of hard drugs. One gram of heroin, two grams of cocaine, two grams of meth, less than forty methadone user units, one gram or five tablets of MDMA, less than forty LSD user units, and fewer than forty oxycodone pills are now permissible carry items for addicts.

Such quantities constitute a non-criminal Class E offense, punishable at most by a $100 fine or a suggestion to seek an addiction treatment professional’s health evaluation.

Penalties for anyone found in possession of even more of these once illegal substances have also been loosened; currently, a misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of less than a year in jail, a fine, or both.

In addition to decriminalizing hard drugs, the law required the creation or financing of treatment clinics supported by marijuana revenues around the state.

The Democratic Party of Oregon, the ACLU of the state of Oregon, the ACLU, NAACP, NARAL Pro-Choice, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, and a number of other leftist organizations supported the proposition, according to Ballotpedia.

One of the petitioners to file the initiative was a so-called harm reduction professional named Haven Wheelock, who told Oregon Public Broadcasting, “I’m incredibly proud of our state, and it takes a lot of guts to attempt something new.” “To demonstrate that we don’t have to punish individuals for being ill, I’m thrilled to serve as an example for other communities.”

Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton stated, “I think everyone can agree that it’s an experiment, but I am hoping that this new endeavor can be successful in combating addiction.”

With 58.5% of the vote, Measure 110 was successful. Decriminalization becomes operative on February 1, 2021.

Addicts who could have been put straight by an arrest are now dying by the hundreds in Portland, a Democrat-run city that saw a commercial exodus from its boarded-up and crime-ridden downtown and throughout the state.

Data from the Oregon Health Authority shows a sharp increase in fatal overdoses in recent years. There were 824 overdose deaths in 2020. There were 1,189 fatal overdoses in the year when M110 went into effect. According to preliminary estimates, overdose deaths resulted in over 1,100 fatalities in 2022.

Particularly deadly thus far is fentanyl. According to OregonLive.com, there were 77 confirmed fentanyl deaths in the year that ended in September 2019. There were 1,268 overdose fatalities in 2023, according to reports.

There seems to be a connection between M110 and deadly overdoses.

In September 2021, the Journal of Health Economics released research from the University of Toronto that indicated that 182 unintended drug overdose fatalities in Oregon in 2021 occurred as a result of Oregon decriminalizing small quantities of narcotics in February 2021.

As a result, there was “a 23% increase above the number of drug overdose deaths that would have occurred if Oregon had not decriminalized substances.”

Additionally, M110’s anticipated benefit has not materialized.

Officers recommended to OPB that those who carry lethal substances like fentanyl never contact the treatment hotline number and that the $100 fines for such offenses go unpaid.

Only two people have contacted the number, according to Sgt. Jerry Cioeta of the Portland Police Bureau.

According to state auditors, 1% of drug addicts who received a citation from the police called the hotline, according to the Statesman Journal.

It’s too early to tell if the failing policy is effective, according to some of its supporters.

Wheelock told the Atlantic, “We’re constructing the plane as we fly it.” “The 50-year war on drugs was an unsuccessful attempt. Every time someone says, “We need to repeal this before we even give it a chance, it breaks my heart.”

In April of last year, a nonpartisan statewide poll revealed that 51% of Oregonians thought M110 had not worked out well for the state. According to 65% of respondents, M110 exacerbated drug addiction. According to 63%, the measure made homelessness worse. 63% said it worsened criminality.