Nearly four years after Oregon’s first-of-its-kind drug decriminalization effort was passed by voters, Oregon is bringing back criminal penalties for possessing illicit substances including fentanyl, meth, heroin, and cocaine, starting Sunday. 

Since Measure 110 was approved in 2020, removing criminal penalties for possession of illegal drugs, Oregon has faced a devastating — and growing — overdose crisis. “Since 2020, fatal overdoses involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl have significantly risen throughout Oregon,” according to the Oregon Health Authority. “The number of unintentional overdose deaths related to illicitly manufactured fentanyl nearly quadrupled between 2020 and 2022, increasing from 223 to 843 overdose fatalities.” 

On Sunday, a provision of a state law known as HB 4002 will go into effect, increasing “penalties for unlawful possession of a controlled substance” while also aiming to expand addiction treatment. The effort marks a significant rollback of the state’s decriminalization efforts, which lawmakers across the political spectrum came to agree — to varying extents — was a failure. 

“There’s no question that what Oregon did was a bold experiment, and it failed,” as Portland’s Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler, put it, noting that it was a “botched” implementation. 

The state’s House Majority Office, in a statement provided to the Sun, says that under the new legislation, “law enforcement will have the tools to confiscate drugs like meth and fentanyl, stop public drug use and get people into treatment with a focus on rehabilitation, not incarceration.” 

“This legislation will save lives and make our communities safer,” the House Majority Leader and Democratic state representative, Ben Bowman, says. “But the work is not over. This crisis was created over decades, and it won’t be solved overnight. We need to remain laser-focused on getting people the treatment they need – and we need to make sure public spaces are safe and accessible for everyone to enjoy.” 

The law also encourages individual counties to apply for funding and set up “deflection programs”  to steer people with substance abuse issues away from the criminal justice system and instead assist them through treatment and recovery. 

Not everyone in the state is convinced that the new recriminalization efforts will go far enough to address Oregon’s drug issues. 

“HB 4002, if implemented correctly, will get us started on a path that is better than what we had with what amounted to legalization of hard drugs under the measure,” a Republican state representative, Rick Lewis, tells the Sun. “I don’t believe for a moment that it will fully address the crisis.” He was the sponsor of another bill, HB 2310, that he says “would have gone much further,” had it passed, than the current legislation. 

“Decriminalization of hard drugs as a ‘solution’ to getting people off drugs was never destined for success.  We have a deep hole to dig ourselves out of,” he says, adding that the state needs to “get tougher on drug dealers,” especially ones who deal in substances that result in overdoses and death. “ We created the demand with the passage of Measure 110 and the supply followed.  We need stronger actions to reduce the supply and that can only come with targeting drug dealers and importers of drugs like fentanyl and meth by guaranteed prison time.”

The recriminalization effort is a first step, but there is “more to be done,” he notes. 

“I believe we will see some successes, but it remains to be seen whether or not it will dig us out of the proverbial hole that we’ve put ourselves in,” he says. “It is a long climb.”