Whatchamacolumn: Drug programs ‘building the plane while it’s flying’
Oregon’s experiment with drug decriminalization became a governmental, political, social and financial fiasco. But for better or worse, the money keeps on flowing.
It’s impossible to quickly recap the history, evolution and overturning of Oregon’s 2020 Ballot Measure 110, although in August, Oregon Public Broadcasting devoted almost 3,000 words to the effort.
Ballot Measure 110 produced 50 pages of state legislation based on declarations that “health-based treatment of drug addiction and overdose is more effective, humane and cost-effective than criminal punishments.”
Good intent, but this newspaper (among other voices) counseled caution with this pre-election commentary:
“Statewide decriminalization has never been tested. And it seems a radical, counterintuitive approach on its face. We think it would be wiser to test this theory in smaller, more tightly controlled venues first … (as) groundwork for an educational initiative introducing the concept more broadly.”
Oregonians thought better, voting 58-42 in favor of 110. It even passed in Yamhill County, albeit by the slimmest of margins.
All Oregon counties and others were required to create Behavior Health Resource Networks (BHRHs), each with a coalition of partners serving one or more areas of drug addiction services. The statewide result has been financially mind-boggling: 42 BHRNs with 151 partners gaining 225 grant agreements; state allocations of $409 million with $334 million paid to date.
At least, that’s what currently is reported online by the Oregon Health Authority, which this week did not return multiple phone calls seeking updated information.
Here in Yamhill County, seven BHRN partner organization have been allocated $12.3 million, with $9.7 million paid to date. And as reported this week, the county department of Health and Human Services is seeking an additional $5 million “related to Measure 110 and its recent rollback.”
About that rollback:
This year, Oregon’s Legislature re-established possession of illegal drugs as a misdemeanor crime while leaving in place programs to provide treatment services. The new law, effective Sept. 1, allocates a reported $18-$20 million statewide for “deflection programs” such as one being proposed by Yamhill County.
The idea is to accompany drug citations with law enforcement efforts to “deflect” violators into available treatment programs. That concept, OPB reported, “was crucial in getting lawmakers on board with recriminalization.”
Counties are adopting different deflection strategies. OPB reported that 16 counties will limit such efforts to cases involving only possession of a controlled substance; nine counties, including Yamhill, will include cases involving other low-level crimes; applicants have diverse eligibility standards; and all others, at the time, were either in development or were not applying for state funding.
Yamhill County and others are discussing creation of some form of “deflection center,” where at least there can be some centralized gathering of data and results. Statewide, however, it’s not exactly a test in “smaller, more tightly controlled venues,” as the N-R recommended four years ago.
Perhaps the best quote by OPB came from Ken Sanchagrin, executive director of the Criminal Justice Commission:
“We’ve been building the plane while it’s flying. And every county has their own rickety biplane that they’ve been building while it’s flying, too. Most of them are not finished yet, so I don’t even know how we’re flying, but we’re trying.”
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
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