I’ve spent the last few years as the operations coordinator for an organization called Street Books. It’s a job that has placed me on the streets — in the neighborhoods most acutely impacted by “the drug epidemic” — throughout Oregon’s experiment with decriminalization.
As a mobile library, Street Books delivers thousands of books each year to homeless Portlanders or those living on the margins. Beneath the books, our primary goal is to develop and maintain relationships to build a community of care and resilience.
Part of our philosophy is to meet people where they are. To do this, we adapt. Since we began offering harm reduction supplies, we’ve distributed thousands of doses of Naloxone, responded to overdoses, and connected with new library patrons who know that they can come to us and be welcomed without judgment. This act of recognition, of meeting people with open hearts, has real impact — especially in the face of the backlash against Measure 110, the short-lived law that decriminalized personal amounts of drugs in Oregon.
Just a few short years ago, Measure 110 passed with an overwhelming majority. However, it was systematically undercut, and its goal of increasing access to treatment went unfunded for most of its tenure. Despite being scapegoated for all of Oregon’s problems, the data shows that the myths used to discredit Measure 110 are false.
Let’s look at the facts:
(1) There is no evidence that Measure 110 was associated with a rise in crime. In fact, crime in Oregon fell 14% between 2020 and 2023.
(2) Oregon’s rise in overdoses was due to shifts in the drug market, not decriminalization, and was in line with the rest of the country. Oregon had lower per-capita overdose deaths than states with strict drug laws like Florida, Ohio and Tennessee.
(3) Rather than encouraging drug use, the number of people seeking screenings for substance use disorder increased by 298% after Measure 110 went into effect.
(4) Oregon was expected to save $37 million between 2023-2025 if Measure 110 had continued. It costs between $30,000 and $60,000 to arrest, adjudicate, incarcerate and supervise a person for a drug charge, while treatment costs an average of $9,000 per person.
Criminalization and the War on Drugs have been given decades to prove themselves as solutions, yet they have consistently failed, filling prisons and militarizing police departments. People recently released from prison are 10 times more likely to experience an overdose than the general public, according to research from Oregon Health & Science University and Oregon State University. More incarceration does not reduce drug problems; in fact, the fallout from criminalization is far worse than potentially making it easier for people who use drugs to maintain comfort.
So, why was Measure 110 repealed? It was clearly not out of a concern for public health. Once we look beyond the moralistic hand wringing and political fear mongering, a simple solution emerges: If Oregonians dislike seeing people use drugs on the street, we should push for a housing-first model so people can use behind closed doors — just like housed users — or advocate for safer use centers and safer supply distribution. Or better yet, both.
At the end of the day, we at Street Books believe in harm reduction because we believe in the value of human life. We believe in dignity, and we love our friends and patrons regardless of whether they are abstinent from substances.
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This article appears in October 30, 2024.