[ad_1]
SALEM, Oregon – Police in Oregon can no longer arrest someone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs because a voting measure that has decriminalized them entered into force on Monday.
Instead, those found in possession would face a $ 100 fine or a health assessment that could lead to addiction counseling. Supporters of the voting measure, which voters in Oregon widely adopted in November, hailed it as a revolutionary movement for the United States.
“Today the first domino of our cruel and inhuman war on drugs has fallen, triggering what we expect to be a cascade of other efforts focused on health rather than criminalization,” said Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which led the voting initiative.
Supporters of Ballot Measure 110 said treatment should be the priority and that criminalizing drug possession did not work. Besides the prospect of being locked up, having a criminal record makes it difficult to find housing and employment and can haunt a person for the rest of their life.
Two dozen district attorneys had opposed the measure, saying it was reckless and would lead to increased acceptability of dangerous drugs.
Instead of being arrested, those found by law enforcement with quantities of personal-use drugs would face a civil citation, “like a traffic ticket,” not a criminal citation, he said. Matt Sutton, spokesperson for the Drug Policy Alliance.
Under the new system, drug addiction centers will be tasked with “sorting out the acute needs of people who use drugs and assessing and meeting any ongoing needs, intensive case management and linkage to care. and services ”.
The drug rehab centers will be funded by millions of dollars in tax revenue from Oregon’s legalized marijuana industry. This diverts some funds from other programs and entities that already receive them, such as schools.
The ballot measure capped the amount of pot tax revenue that schools had; mental health alcohol and drug addiction services; state police; and cities and counties receive $ 45 million per year, with the remainder going to a “Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery Services Fund.”
The fund will be inundated with cash if the trend in marijuana sales continues as expected.
In fiscal 2020, marijuana tax revenue peaked at $ 133 million, a 30% increase from the previous year and a 545% increase from 2016, when taxes on marijuana began to be collected from legal and registered recreational marijuana businesses statewide.
Other recipients of marijuana tax revenue now say that after the related assessment and treatment options are put in place, the distribution of that revenue will deserve another look. A leading lawmaker agrees.
“Going forward, as Oregon’s treatment programs reach full funding, the state should assess what other services would benefit from our ever-increasing marijuana tax revenues,” said the president of Oregon Education. Association, John Larson.
Larson said that a “balanced approach to budgeting” will support communities and students. The OEA union represents approximately 44,000 educators.
State Senator Floyd Prozanski, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Measure 110 Implementation of the ballot, said he expects Oregon’s cannabis tax revenue to increase exponentially if recreational marijuana in the United States is legalized. He expects this to happen within four years.
This would make the Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund “oversaturated with income,” as overseas consumers legally buy Oregon’s potent marijuana, Prozanski said in a telephone interview.
“It would be foolish for us as a legislature to think that the voters would want us to invest hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in a program that would, at this point, I think, have a yardstick- gold “in drug addiction recovery services, the Democrat said.
But Sutton noted that in addition to traditional treatment services, the fund would also go towards housing and employment assistance to provide long-term stability for those struggling with addictions.
“I can’t imagine a situation where this fund would become oversaturated anytime soon,” Sutton said.
Oregon is a pioneer in liberalizing drug laws. It was the first state, in 1973, to decriminalize possession of marijuana. In 2014, voters in Oregon passed a voting measure legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. But Sutton said there are no plans to pursue legalization and a regulated hard drug market in Oregon.
Drug rehab centers must be available no later than October 1. A center should be established in each existing service area of the coordinated care organization.
After decriminalization, about 3,700 fewer Oregonians per year will be convicted of the felony or misdemeanor of possession of controlled substances, according to estimates by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. The measure will also likely lead to a significant reduction in racial and ethnic disparities in convictions and arrests, the state commission said.
The drugs specified by the measure include LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, methadone, oxycodone, and MDMA – commonly referred to as ecstasy.
While this approach is new in the United States, several countries, including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs, according to the United Nations.
The decriminalization of Portugal in 2000 did not lead to any increase in drug use. Drug-related deaths declined as the number of people treated for drug addiction in the country rose 20% from 2001 to 2008 and then leveled off, Portuguese officials said.
[ad_2]
Source link