OREGON DRUGS: MEASURE 110 EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW IDEAS

Oregon drugs were put to the vote last November and the results were clear.

Last fall Oregon voters decriminalized possession of small amounts of almost all hard drugs, taking a groundbreaking step away from the arrest, charge and jail model for possession that’s been a centerpiece of American drug policy.

Arrest.

Charge.

Jail.

The new model says no problem if you’re carrying the hard stuff.

Measure 110 makes possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin, LSD and methamphetamine, among other drugs, punishable by a civil citation — akin to a parking ticket — and a $100 fine. That fee can get waived if you get a health screening from a recovery hotline.

Now it’s a parking ticket equivalent? I’m intrigued.

But first, a few words on the drug list.

So if you’re found holding, among other drugs, up to 2 grams of methamphetamine or cocaine, 40 hits of LSD or oxycodone, up to a gram of heroin, you get a citation and a $100 fine.

I’m not checking with the meth-friendly neighbors who just did a two year jolt on drug-related charges, but this list shows that all drugs are not created equal.

If one person gets popped holding the variety and amounts listed, are they casual users or something else?

I’m going with ‘something else.’ Who carries a pharmacy around? And forty hits of LSD? I’d ask where anyone could even find 40 hits, but someone probably knows someone.

Someone Always Knows A Guy

I went to a book reading one night in downtown Powell’s.

The author knew guys, lots of guys. He said he did most of his interview work in jail instead of on the street.

He felt safer because the jailed drug offenders have come down, had time to reflect, and wouldn’t have the chance to answer a hard question with a gun or knife.

Seems prudent to me.

His story was about a drug pipeline where the big timers sent out delivery people with small amounts to stay under the radar. Uber-Drugs?

Will a small penalty for small amounts of hard drugs encourage people to move here?

“We’re already hearing of people coming into Oregon to use because they know they can do drugs and sleep outside and police can’t do anything about it,” says a frustrated central Oregon officer who asked not be named because of his work in drug interdiction.

Now with decriminalization, one law enforcement official who asked not to be named because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly predicts within a year Oregon “will be inundated with (more) folks who have substance use disorder.”

Small time users can come to Oregon to get loaded, but what about the pipeline? They don’t get a break.

Efforts to stop large-scale trafficking in Oregon continue as usual. Local and multiagency and regional drug interdiction task forces say their work goes on apace.

“Measure 110 has not affected our work at all,” says a regional spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Who Are These Dope Fiends And Where Do They Come From

I read that the average American drug addict is white, middle-aged, and male. Sound familiar?

Where are they? You won’t have to look too far.

From the National Institute On Drug Abuse:

The drug-dependent person experiences mood swings related to drug use. Gradually there is a personality change and all activity and thoughts revolve around drugs. Judgment and insight are also impaired.

Family relationship change- In the beginning the drug abuser starts avoiding family members. As the addiction progress, lying, stealing, and violence become a regular feature.

Social Changes- The drug abuser starts to weaken his friendship with non-abusers, breaks promises, and lies. He/she makes friends with other drug abusers. There is no interest in any other activities or in social gatherings. Most of the time, the drug abuser sleeps during the day and engages in drug-taking activities during the night.

Financial Condition- The drug abuser spends all his/her money on drugs. As the need for drugs increase, more money is spent, leading to debt and borrowing and selling of goods from home, workplace, and school.

More Problems?

Legal Problem- Drug abusers become involved in many illegal activities such as street crimes, violence, extortion, murder etc.

Sexual Activities- Most drug abusers under the influence of drugs have inappropriate sexual behavior. Many of them visit commercial sex workers and many drug abusers can’t get sexual enjoyment without using drugs.

I talked to man with a past in drug use and asked him how he used to spend the day.

“We were all shooting speed before I went to Vietnam. We all shot heroin when I came back. What did we do? We did drugs. It’s hard to understand if you’ve never been there, but that’s what we did all day. Find heroin, use heroin, nod off, and start over. Every day. That’s why I started dealing.”

Who are these dope fiends? They are you, me, the house down the street, the kid from school. Oregon drugs can be stealthy.

An Ex-Addict Weighs In On Oregon Drugs

From OPB:

“Many times the only way to get access to recovery services is by being arrested or interacting with the criminal justice system. Measure 110 took away that pathway,” he says.

“I know that it takes an intervention for many of us to be saved” from addiction, says Jim O’Rourke, a Portland lawyer who opposed Measure 110 and who is also in long-term recovery.

Arrest, he says, can give people the push they need to finally get help.

“The threat of having to go through a judicial process gave them the external motivation they needed to do something that their internal motivation wasn’t strong enough to get done,” O’Rourke says. Addiction is a disease “that takes over the brain, it takes over your executive function.” A citation and a potential fine, he believes, “just isn’t strong enough.”

Arrest also shames people into explaining why they got arrested and what they did about it. However, I’ve never heard of an active addict feeling much shame over anything.

 Number of admissions aged 65 or older admitted substance abuse treatment, by primary substance of abuse:

The good news is about heightened awareness on drug addiction and treatment.

The bad news comes with trying to align drug addiction and treatment.

The story in OPB included interviews with former addicts and treatment center directors. They know the road ahead better than most.

The Road Ahead

Oregon supporters of decriminalization point to Portugal as a reform model. In 2001, Portugal dramatically changed its approach and decriminalized all drugs. The nation began treating addiction as a public health crisis. There, anyone caught with less than a 10-day supply of any drug gets mandatory medical treatment.

But Marshall and others point out that Portugal took more than two years to transition carefully to a new system and replace judges, jails and lawyers with doctors, social workers and addiction specialists.

“So we put the cart before the horse,” he says.

I’m wondering if forty hits of acid is a ‘ten day supply.’ Or is it an Oregon drug thing?

The measure’s opponents argued that Oregon was the wrong place to choose as a test case for a new approach to illicit drug use and addiction.

The state struggles with some of the highest rates of substance abuse in the nation and among the poorest rates of access to services, according to an analysis by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

Those numbers are about to change.