First Oregon, now B.C.: Why drug decriminalization faces renewed questions – GLOBAL

May 20, 2024

Last September, as Oregon faced an ever-increasing rate of fatal drug overdoses, a new study concluded the state’s first-in-the-U.S. decriminalization policy was not to blame.

The study found that based on similar overdose rates in other states before and after the first year of decriminalization, overdose deaths in Oregon would have risen at essentially the same rate with or without the policy.

By then, however, it seemed minds were made up. The move to decriminalize personal possession of hard drugs — enacted in early 2021, after voters approved a ballot measure the previous November — had coincided with a rise in public drug use and overdoses fuelled by toxic fentanyl, sparking a public backlash. Meanwhile, the policy’s effort to replace criminal citations with a push toward treatment saw fewer people take advantage of services that were still ramping up to respond to the growing need.

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/10495082/drug-decriminalization-bc-oregon-washington/

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