Three Oregonians die every day from unintentional drug overdoses, which are killing teenagers there at higher rates than any other state. Fentanyl overdose deaths in Oregon surged by 600 percent in the span of two years. Seized fentanyl in high-intensity drug trafficking areas skyrocketed to more than 2 million counterfeit pills in 2022 from 690 in 2018.

These are the statistics Republicans in the Oregon house cite as they rail against Oregon’s Measure 110, a first-of-its-kind voter-enacted law that decriminalized possession of small amounts of illegal drugs. “Since its implementation, overdoses rose 61 percent compared to 13 percent nationally,” the state Republicans say. 

Now, ahead of a legislative session beginning February 5, some lawmakers in the state are attempting to end the measure and recriminalize substances such as heroin, meth, and cocaine. 

“My bill for the short session of the legislature would recriminalize possession of these drugs as a misdemeanor and provide the avenue needed for people to seek treatment, get off drugs, address mental and behavioral health concerns, and become productive members of society,” a state representative, Rick Lewis, who is sponsoring the bill, tells the Sun. “It gives the courts the leverage they need to get people to opt into treatment, get clean, and expunge the arrest record that got them before the court,” he said, adding that the bill “is a compassionate response to drug addiction.”

The backers of Oregon’s Measure 110 led voters to believe that their “goal was to get people into treatment and off drugs” by making possession noncriminal, he says. Instead, the measure “has resulted in increased levels of drug use, addiction, homelessness, drug overdose deaths, and serious mental and behavioral health issues.”

Since Measure 110 went into effect in 2021, he says, “Oregon has invested hundreds of millions of dollars, but very few are going to treatment. Law enforcement agencies have written thousands of E-tickets which were designed supposedly to get those abusing substances to call a hotline and seek treatment options, but so few have placed that call that the cost exceeds $7,000 per phone call.”

Funds are being used for clean needle exchanges, which enable continued addiction, he adds. Like other states, Oregon needs more law enforcement officers, he says, but the “real problem” is Measure 110 itself and the lack of responsibility and accountability that went along with it.

“There is no incentive for drug users to get into treatment,” Mr. Lewis says. “The failures of the measure can be seen on the streets of many of our communities and in the impacts on community safety and livability.”

While there is bipartisan agreement that Oregon needs new solutions to address its surging drug crisis, there is heated debate about how it should play out. 

“We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis,” a former United States attorney for Oregon, Amanda Marshall, testified in support of keeping Measure 110. “Locking people up has never been a solution to a public health crisis and fentanyl doesn’t change that fact.” 

There is a need to “move beyond knee-jerk reactions, politics, and fear-mongering” and “stop funding the war on drugs,” she said. Lawmakers should instead focus on solutions that include expanding treatment access, prevention outreach, and harm reduction, Ms. Marshall said. 

“The last thing we need to do is repeal Measure 110 and return to the war on drugs that disproportionately impacted Black and Brown Oregonians,” she said. “The criminal punishment system can not solve problems like addiction, homelessness, and mental illness.”