Three years ago, Oregon made a fundamental break with the War on Drugs, decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs—hard drugs: heroin, meth, fentanyl. Instead of punishment, the measure promised a “health-based approach.” That short-lived experiment has now been called off; Oregon’s legislature recently voting to recriminalize possession.
The measure faced stiff headwinds from the start: from the arrival of fentanyl on the West Coast to a relentless, well-funded opposition campaign. But part of what went wrong was a challenge for any legislation: implementation. How do you make a sweeping new approach work on the ground?
Morgan Godvin was at the frontlines of Oregon’s decriminalization fight. “We have come to a fork in the road,” she says. For now, progress towards an evidence-based approach to drug use “has fallen prey to fear-based policy.”
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