{"id":17261,"date":"2024-04-21T12:13:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T12:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=17261"},"modified":"2024-05-14T18:38:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T18:38:15","slug":"dem-gov-recriminalizes-drug-possession-despite-voter-referendum-after-overdose-deaths-crime-surge-in-oregon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/04\/dem-gov-recriminalizes-drug-possession-despite-voter-referendum-after-overdose-deaths-crime-surge-in-oregon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem gov recriminalizes drug possession despite voter referendum after overdose deaths, crime surge in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
The high times are over in Oregon.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Democratic\u00a0Gov. Tina Kotek\u00a0<\/a>signed legislation Monday to\u00a0recriminalize the possession of small amounts of certain drugs<\/a>\u00a0as the state grapples with a major overdose crisis, ending a legalization experiment backed by voters four years ago.<\/p>\n

The new law makes keeping drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. It also enables police to confiscate the drugs and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks.<\/p>\n

Back in 2020, voters backed\u00a0Measure 110<\/a>, which made minor possession of personal-use amounts of certain drugs a non-criminal violation on par with a traffic ticket.<\/p>\n

It took effect in February 2021, making Oregon the first state to officially decriminalize minor drug possession.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Beaver State has seen a significant uptick in homelessness,\u00a0homicides<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0overdose deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2020, unintentional opioid overdose deaths clocked in at 472 and hit at least 628 in 2023,\u00a0according to state data.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2022, Portland set a new record for murders with 101 \u2014 breaking the mark of 92 set the previous year.<\/p>\n

Back in January, Kotek declared a fentanyl state of emergency in the city, saying at the time: \u201cOur country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly and addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new law, which will take effect Sept. 1, will let local law enforcement decide whether to give violators the chance to pursue treatment before booking them into jail<\/p>\n

Another bill Kotek signed Monday, Senate Bill 5204, allocates $211 million to mobilize resources for behavioral health and education programs, including expanded access to substance abuse treatment and prevention education.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess of this policy framework hinges on the ability of implementing partners to commit to deep coordination at all levels,\u201d Kotek emphasized in a letter to legislative leaders.<\/p>\n

The governor further called on the Department of Corrections to ensure a \u201cconsistent approach for supervision when an individual is released\u201d from detention and to \u201cexhaust non-jail opportunities for misdemeanor sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/04\/02\/us-news\/oregon-recriminalizes-drugs-after-upswing-in-overdose-deaths\/<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The high times are over in Oregon. Democratic\u00a0Gov. Tina Kotek\u00a0signed legislation Monday to\u00a0recriminalize the possession of small amounts of certain drugs\u00a0as the state grapples with a major overdose crisis, ending a legalization experiment backed by voters four years ago. The new law makes keeping drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine a misdemeanor punishable by up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,104,14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-violence-prison","category-political-sector","category-social-affairs","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}