Oregon’s new drug treatment law a big flop

Oregon state officials are admitting that a 2020 ballot measure to decriminalize drugs has failed as overdoses skyrocket and appropriated funds remain unspent.

Testimony before the House Committee on Behavior Health on Thursday painted a grim picture of Oregon s efforts to encourage self-help in lieu of incarceration.

When the voters of Oregon passed Measure 110, we did so because it was a change of policy in Oregon to improve the lives of people, to improve our communities, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan testified. And in the years since, we haven’t seen that play out. Instead & we’ve seen the problem with drug addiction get worse.

Republican state Rep. Lily Morgan said her community had seen a 700% increase in overdoses and a 120% increase in deaths.

via www.washingtonexaminer.com

This was utterly predictable. Indeed, with a very simple model of costs and benefits.