SJC Exchange Library

Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on 02/15/24

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Hi all,

As many of you know, Oregon's Measure 110 - a landmark 2021 bill that decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs - is under threat of being rolled back. Oregon legislators, citing a rise in harmful drug use and homelessness, have filed a bill that would recriminalize possession of small amounts of controlled substances.

This morning, the Prison Policy Initiative released a briefing explaining our opposition to this bill. Our briefing explains that:

• Measure 110 has delivered on its goals, creating hundreds of millions of dollars for overdose prevention and services for people seeking treatment, and reducing drug possession arrests by 67%.
• Recriminalization will strand more people in Oregon's jails, which are currently seeing record deaths. The effects will fall hardest on Black Oregonians, increasing racial disparities.
• The recriminalization bill focuses on forced substance use treatment as a solution to addiction, but forced treatment simply doesn't work. Even if it did work, there is another problem: Treatment resources in Oregon are still falling far short of meeting the existing need.

Our full briefing contains more details about what Measure 110 has accomplished and the potential consequences of rolling it back. You can read it here: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/02/15/oregon-110/

Thanks for reading, and I hope this is useful in your work.

Take care,

Wanda 

Prison Policy Initiative

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Wanda Bertram
Communications Strategist
Prison Policy Initiative
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