Page 11 - Tera Hurst News Today

Two years after Oregon residents voted to decriminalize hard drugs and dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars to treatment, few people have requested the services and the state has been

When voters passed the states pioneering Drug Addiction Treatment andRecovery Act in 2020, the emphasis was on treatment as much as on decriminalizing possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs. But progress has been slow and Oregon still has among the highest addiction rates in the country yet over half of addiction treatment programs in the state dont have enough staffing and funding to help those who want help

Over half of\u00a0addiction treatment programs\u00a0in Oregon lack capacity to meet demand because they dont have enough staffing and funding.

Supporters want more states to follow Oregon's lead, saying decriminalization reduces the stigma of addiction and keeps people who use drugs from going to jail.

Measure 110 was passed in November of 2020, and required the establishment of Behavioral Health Resource Networks throughout Oregon.

The Oregon Health Authority, through a special council, has funded 41 behavioral health networks as part of a new approach to drugs.

SALEM — A year behind schedule, Oregon’s novel approach to drug addiction has reached primetime.

Despite a windfall of new funding that could combat Oregon’s meth-fueled behavioral health crisis, leaders have no plan and risk leaving promising approaches on the shelf.

In November 2020, Oregonians voted overwhelmingly to decriminalize possession of a small amount of hard drugs. Sixteen months in, the results paint a picture of failure.

Public health advocates and experts warn that Canada needs to do more than decriminalize drugs to bring down overdose deaths. As calls for a regulated safe supply grow, here's how other countries have handled decriminalization and the influence of the black market.