Trailblazing Oregonians have spoken and the biggest news to come from election day was a YES vote for Measure 110, The Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative. Oregon has decided to decriminalize personal possession of ALL scheduled drugs including Heroin, Cocaine, and Meth.

The failed drug war has proven to be a huge loss for everyone involved, from over-crowded prisons of non-violent drug offenders that suffer from mental illness to a devastating opiate and meth pandemic fueled by ruthless cartels. Oregon has finally decided to choose a different path when it comes treating drug users as patients instead of criminals. Personal possession and consumption of all scheduled narcotics will be treated as a violation rather than a misdemeanor. The measure reclassifies personal non-commercial possession of certain drugs under specified amounts from misdemeanor or felony to Class E violation. If caught with these substances, the patient will be issued a $100 fine and have 45 days to complete a health assessment conducted through addiction recovery centers that include a substance use disorder screening by a certified alcohol and drug counselor. The cultivation or manufacturing and commercial sale will still be illegal. Measure 110 mandates that by October 1, 2021 addiction recovery centers must be established to provide drug users with triage, health assessments, treatment, and recovery services. To give these patients the care and counseling they desperately need, Oregon will use taxes from legal Cannabis to fund these centers. Savings from reductions in arrests, incarceration, or supervision resulting from measure 110 will also pay for these treatment centers. Spain decided to decriminalize all drugs and offer rehab, detox, and counseling services and saw a decrease in addiction and overdoses in drug users. Violence and criminal activity declined as well as the sale of illegal narcotics due to a huge decline in demand. Hopefully we will see the same trend take place in Oregon, as it is showing America that if both sides call a truce to this insane War on Drugs, in the end everybody wins.

References:

https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Measure_110,_Drug_Decriminalization_and_Addiction_Treatment_Initiative_(2020)