Whatchamacolumn: Family displays Oregon drug treatment failures
We can only wonder how John Kyle Donnahoo was available for criminal duty two weeks ago in Newberg, with charges now including robbery, kidnapping, coercion, theft, unlawful weapon and delivery of a controlled substance.
Donnahoo and three co-defendants, all resting in the Yamhill County jail on $500,000 security, allegedly robbed their victim inside a Newberg hotel room. The four suspects, all in their 30s, have long drug-related criminal records involving methamphetamines and heroin, with regular sprinklings of vehicular, thievery and judicial process charges.
It must be distressing for members of our local law enforcement community — and no doubt, our local social services community — to read the revolving door criminal histories of dangerous drug users and dealers. We’ve had a criminal justice system, and a citizen population, that doesn’t really understand the real nature of addiction.
As The Atlantic reported about Oregon in March, “America’s most radical experiment with drug decriminalization has ended, after more than three years of painful results … Possessing hard drugs is again a crime in Oregon, and courts will return to mandating treatment for offenders.”
Supporters of Oregon’s ill-fated Measure 110, The Atlantic reported, touted the idea that “those who wanted to continue using would be more willing to access harm-reduction services that helped them use in safer ways … (those) who wanted to quit using drugs but had been too ashamed or fearful to seek treatment would do so … (and Oregon would see) a surge of help-seeking, a reduction in drug-overdose deaths, fewer racial disparities in the health and criminal-justice systems, lower rates of incarceration, and safer neighborhoods for all.”
Things didn’t work out, and now we’re back to the starting line of dealing with drug-induced crime.
You might be forgiven for thinking that Donnahoo, born in 1994, was already incarcerated. After all, his 2023 charge in U.S. District Court alleged that he “did unlawfully, intentionally, and knowingly distribute a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, and death and serious bodily injury resulted.”
Looking back on multi-generational Donnahoo drug cases:
John Charles Donnahoo, born in 1955, accumulated mostly driving and drug possession charges throughout the 1990s. His last record in the Oregon criminal database was a 1999 guilty plea to possession, and he died in 2012.
John Billy Donnahoo, born in 1974, is far-and-away the family leader in criminal charges, with more than 40 cases since 1993: possession and delivery of heroin and methamphetamine; thefts; burglary; weapons charges; all manner of driving violations.
This year, John Billy was charged in U.S. District Court for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute; possession of a firearm as a convicted felon; and possessing a firearm “in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.”
John Kyle Donnahoo, born in 1994, mostly amassed driving and theft records since 2012, but his more recent activities appear to qualify him for carrying on long-time family traditions.
Meanwhile, most recent reports from the National Institute for Drug Abuse say nearly 108,000 Americans died from drug-involved overdose in 2022. And the beat goes on.
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
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