Oregon’s Democrat Governor Signs Bill Recriminalizing Hard Drugs After Record Overdose Deaths

The state of Oregon is reversing their controversial legalization of hard drugs after experiencing a record number of overdose deaths.

Their Democrat Governor Tina Kotek recently signed the bill making it official.

The changes under the law won’t take effect until September, but the situation in Oregon is dire.

FOX News reports:

Oregon governor signs bill recriminalizing hard drugs, completing liberal experiment’s U-turn

Oregon has legislatively completed its U-turn on a short-lived liberal policy that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of certain drugs.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, on Monday signed into law a bill that reverses Measure 110, a 2020 law that voters approved to decriminalize most illegal possession of controlled substance offenses and redirect much of the state’s marijuana tax revenue to fund grants for addiction services.

Around 58% of Oregon residents approved the initial measure but since then, addiction and overdose deaths have skyrocketed in Oregon and nationwide as fentanyl swept across the country. In August, 56% of Oregonians said they disapproved of the pioneering drug law and both Republicans and Democrats introduced legislation to roll back the controversial measure.

The new law, HB 4002, makes so-called personal use possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. It enables police to confiscate the drugs and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks. 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.

This change won’t be popular with the left or Libertarians, but it will probably save a lot of lives.

Oregon’s governor has signed a bill restoring criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of hard drugs, reversing a first-in-the-nation law that advocates had hoped would help quell a deepening addiction and overdose crisis. https://t.co/FwJGnITtuC

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 1, 2024

This change will probably reduce crime in Oregon as well.

(Image:Source)