In September, Oregon lawmakers enacted legislation turning low-level drug possession into a more serious crime punishable by up to 180 days in jail. The resulting crackdown has led to thousands of arrests statewide in recent months. People targeted in cities such as Medford, and overworked public defenders tasked with representing them, say the drug enforcement has been chaotic and at times brutal.
While the new policy has appeared to reduce visible drug use in some public spaces, unhoused people, who have been most impacted by the police response, say it has exacerbated their struggles.
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The Medford police department has led the state in drug criminalization – by a lot.
The city is located in a region near the California border that is one of the more conservative areas of a blue state; more than half of voters in Jackson county, which includes Medford, supported Donald Trump.
From September, when the new law was enacted, through 26 March, the Medford police force carried out 902 drug possession arrests – more than double the number of cases in Portland (a city with seven times the population). Jackson county has logged 1,170 arrests total.
Verling, an officer on the city’s “livability” team, a unit focused on low-level crimes, including unlawful camping, trespassing, public drinking and drug possession, said many police were relieved when drugs were recriminalized. The 2020 reform had led to increasing reports of drug use on the streets and growing concern about public intoxication.
Recriminalization, Verling said, allows him to engage people in hopes of pushing them to treatment. “I really don’t want to see someone go to prison … but this gives us the ability to get back into their lives,” he said on a recent patrol through Medford.
He said the job was most rewarding when seeing someone turn their life around after they’ve been jailed – and when his team arrests dealers, potentially “making people sober by making the drugs inaccessible”.
One of the livability team’s main priorities has been clearing homeless encampments, and as Verling drove his patrol car onto a pedestrian greenway, the impact was clear. During the pandemic, encampments were a common site. Now, there were few visible signs of homelessness. Several locals were jogging.
Where did people go?
“People leave town. They’re like, ‘OK well it’s a crime to camp here,’” he said, adding he believed many were in shelters.
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Jackson county designed its program so officers could directly hand over arrestees to drug treatment programs instead of jail, a collaborative approach meant to get people immediate help without involving the courts. But many don’t qualify, aren’t offered this alternative during their arrest, or they decline an officer’s offer. According to the latest available data, while there have been nearly 1,200 possession arrests, as of 27 March, only 69 people have been referred to deflection.
Instead, many get arrested. And rearrested. One 43-year-old unhoused woman said police were “acting like every person on the street is a drug addict, which is not true”, and that she had been arrested four times by Medford’s livability team since October, generally for camping violations. While she was quickly released after her last arrest, her partner was not, leaving her to camp outside alone. The woman, who asked not to use her name out of fear of police retaliation, said she was sleeping in front of a social services center in hopes her partner could easily find her when he gets out. “The separation makes me feel like I can’t breathe,” she added. “Police say they’re helping the homeless, but they’re just throwing us in handcuffs and jail.”
110 was a DISASTER and resulted in open air drug markets acting with impunity.
The PLAN was to make drug possession a $100 ticket and then waive it if they called a 1-800 number to ask about assistance.
NOTE: You didn’t have to actually GET assistance, all you had to do was call the number.
Out of 16,000 people ticketed under the program, less than 140 called the number.
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/02/14/oregon-drug-decriminalization-measure-110-grants-treatment-recovery-services/
Proponents of the measure argue that funding for assistance wasn’t effective, which is also absolutely true, but it doesn’t change the fact that 99+% of people ticketed never SOUGHT assistance.
Maybe people just enjoy drugs and don’t want assistance?
“No no you MUST have the help the government is giving you! WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU, DO NOT RESIST. BODILY AUTONOMY IS ILLEGAL.”
If they were just doing that and not contributing to the overall degradation of society, it would be fine.
Unfortunately the decriminalization increased problems across the board to fuel the drug habit.
Car theft, for example, had a dramatic increase, now with 110 reverted, we’re seeing those numbers go back down.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/oregon-washington-lead-nation-decrease-stolen-vehicles/283-3bbd5ebd-b60e-423b-8d7d-18d46ff719ff
I would argue the super rich tech bros and unfettered capitalism contribute way more to the so-called ‘degradation of society’ than any street people do.
But that’s just my opinion, having lived on the streets myself.
Drug use was huge in the 1950s, 60’s, and 70’s. Strange that people reminisce about those times as a paragon of successful society.
It’s also an era with peak unionization, high marginal tax brackets, and active monopoly busting. It has some of the lowest wealth disparity the US has seen.
The racism and other issues were huge too, but at least you could work a job and feed a family in most places.
But no! It can’t be the current issues are the wealthiest 1% crushing the rest of us. Just because the average salary is quickly trending to a poverty state and home are unattainable to most people… Never. Can’t be that. It must be the drugs causing it. Instead of the damage causing people to seek escape from reality, which drugs offer a means to do… Nope, can’t be that.
“Drug users are the degradation of society!” is exactly what Nixon and Reagan ran on, and Jordanlung claims he’s a progressive. 🙄
Not in Oregon they don’t.
So Oregon is troubled by unique drug users who are worse than anywhere else, or does the rich somehow not touch anything in Oregon?
Drug use exploded as a problem in Oregon when we de-criminalized it. So, yes, Oregon was unique in that regard. Fortunately we reversed course there and are starting to get it back under control.
The rich are a problem here, but not to the degree you might think. Nike is here, Intel is here, really those are the two big ones and they don’t have the same impact as, say, Amazon or Microsoft in Seattle.
https://www.financecharts.com/screener/biggest-state-or
Then support the richest 10% having their taxes raised to 70% like it was prior to Reagan getting his grubby little hands in the mix. Oregon would then be able to afford to build more drug treatment centers.
But taxing them isn’t hurting the drug users enough!! Abolish drugs, punish those who went to them in times of crisis!
The problem isn’t having more drug treatment centers, the problem under 110 was making drug treatment optional with the alternative being a $100 fine that could be safely used as toilet paper.
The incentive that works is “Get treatment or go to jail, pick one.” We’re already seeing a greater diversion into treatment with jail as a threat than a $100 fine with no enforcement.
A surprising number are actually choosing jail. They do not want treatment.
So more prisioners is good? Re-criminalizing things people do to to ease the stress of fascism for more prision labor is useful?
Might as well argue for weed to be illegal again since some people have done bad things with it, so all people must be punished.
Prison as a threat to get treatment is effective, yes. We’re seeing that, a higher rate of people entering treatment now than under decriminalization.