Portland Police Officers Donny Mathew (CQ) checks the timer on his phone, waiting for treatment providers to arrive after arresting a woman for drug possession in downtown Portland, Sept. 10, 2024. In the interim between HB 4002 going into effect and the opening of Multnomah County’s deflection center, mobile deflection providers had to arrive on scene within 30 minutes, or the arrestee would go to jail.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
It’s been a little over a month since Oregon officially ended its experiment with drug decriminalization. Now, there’s a new set of experiments going on around the state. When people are caught with small amounts of illegal drugs, the consequences depend on a variety of factors, including what county they happen to be in. Some counties have gone back to charging people who are caught with small amounts of illegal drugs, while others are trying to connect people with treatment in lieu of an arrest. OPB criminal justice and legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson and OPB public safety reporter Troy Brynelson each visited different counties to see what drug recriminalization looks like on the ground. They share some of their findings with us.
You can read and listen to OPB’s ongoing coverage of drug recriminalization here.
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.