decriminalization

Officer Yoo gives a citation to a man he stopped for using fentanyl in public. Yoo said handing out citations doesn't appear to move people from using drugs on the streets into treatment programs.

Politics & Government
National

Oregon pioneered a radical drug policy. Now it's reconsidering.

6:40pm February 07, 2024

by Conrad Wilson

Under Ballot Measure 110, instead of arresting drug users, police give them a citation and point them towards treatment. Over three years in, there's a debate about whether it's succeeded or failed.

Queue Listen Now

Addicts inject themselves in May 2011 at the Insite supervised injection center in Vancouver, Canada.

World News
Health & Safety

To fight the opioid crisis, Canada tests decriminalizing possession

10:40am June 01, 2022

by Brian Mann

Overdose deaths have risen sharply across Canada in the past five years, with deaths linked to fentanyl doubling. Officials hope decriminalization will make more users willing to seek medical care.

Mike Marshall is the co-founder and director of Oregon Recovers. He says he's concerned the state is failing to expand addiction treatment capacity in a strategic way. "So we put the cart before the horse," he says.

National

Oregon's Pioneering Drug Decriminalization Experiment Is Now Facing The Hard Test

12:11pm June 19, 2021

by Eric Westervelt

Oregon's bold move to decriminalize small amounts of all hard drugs and expand treatment is now meeting the reality of implementation as the treatment community is divided over the way forward.