(NewsNation) — An Oregon lawmaker said the state’s measure to recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs still has a long way to go before it can be successful and effective in treating the state’s addiction crisis.
GOP Oregon State Rep. Ed Diehl voted against a bill that makes minor drug possession a misdemeanor crime again and gives local governments the ability to opt into diversion programs that encourage treatment before a person found with drugs is booked into jail.
Diehl told “NewsNation Now” that while the law is good on many fronts, it “misses the mark” in a lot of ways, which is why he opposed it.
“Where it fails the mark and what my concern is … is the financial aspect of it,” he said.
Diehl said the oversight and accountability council that oversees cannabis money that was supposed to go to drug enforcement, drug addiction treatment and recovery during decriminalization does not believe in the new law, which could cause problems for funding.
“We will not succeed unless we have continued funding for the programs that Oregonians know we need, so I wanted to raise that flag, that we’re not out of the woods yet on this,” he said. “We need to make sure we get the money in place to fund these programs that law enforcement needs to get people clean.”
In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the country to approve a measure decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of hard drugs. But after a surge in opioid deaths between 2019 and 2022, the state decided to reverse course and recriminalize them.
Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek on Monday signed House Bill 4002 into law, which recriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drugs.
The new law makes personal use possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. It also establishes ways for treatment to be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties by encouraging law enforcement agencies to create deflection programs that would divert people to addiction and mental health services instead of the criminal justice system.
Measure 110, approved by voters with 58% support in 2020, made the personal use possession of illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine only punishable by a ticket and a maximum fine of $100.
The law directed hundreds of millions of dollars of the state’s cannabis tax revenue toward addiction services.
But the money was delayed due to the pandemic, and the state was hit with a fentanyl crisis that prompted a reverse course for lawmakers.
“With ballot Measure 110, the legislature put it in place without any systems in place to handle the fallout, and we see it on our streets every day,” Diehl said.
But Diehl said the new law does have positive aspects, including making it easier for police to arrest drug dealers and creating a new class D and E misdemeanor that would send a drug offender to treatment or jail.
“The whole goal is to get people into treatment,” he said.
