United States | Oregon banned hard drugs again

Oregon has again criminalized hard drugs.

The decision was sealed in April when the state’s governor Tina Kotek signed into law a law allowing six months in prison for possession of hard drugs. These include fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Cannabis is still legal in the state.

Oregon was the first US state to decriminalize drugs in 2021.

The state’s decision to reverse its decision comes as the United States struggles to reduce fentanyl use and overdose deaths, The Washington Post (WP) to write.

Oregon’s decision three years ago was hailed by decriminalization advocates as groundbreaking, as it was seen as helping substance abusers access help without fear of stigma or arrest.

Now the repealed law required that the authorities issue a one hundred dollar fine for drug possession, which could however be canceled if the person who received the fine called a state-funded helpline and signed up for a treatment need assessment. According to WP, the activity was financed with tax revenues from cannabis.

According to WP, the problems of decriminalization were noticed at the very beginning. In Oregon, for example, there were not enough service providers to treat people with substance abuse problems, and the corona pandemic also played a role in the matter.

Eventually, the growing popularity of fentanyl, which is up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and the rise in overdoses made many hesitant to decriminalize. The city of Portland declared a 90-day state of emergency in January after a spike in fentanyl overdoses.

Shortly thereafter, in February, the Oregon House of Representatives voted to criminalize hard drugs, followed by approval by the state Senate.