Drugs and Portland in a photo illustration. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images and Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
Lawmakers made a U-turn on the controversial 2020 measure this week in the legislature, after addiction and overdose deaths skyrocketed in Oregon over the last two years.
HB 4002 will now give illicit users an ultimatum: Be criminally charged or get treatment if caught with hard drugs like fentanyl and meth. It also makes the possession of small amounts of drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine 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.
Additionally, the bill aims to make it easier to prosecute people who sell drugs and increase access to addictive medication.
LIBERAL OREGON U-TURNS, PASSES BILL TO RECRIMINALIZE HARD DRUGS AS OVERDOSE DEATHS SKYROCKET
Tents and a wheelchair cover a sidewalk in downtown Portland on February 17, 2023. 54% of Oregon voters believe Measure 110 increased homelessness in their communities. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
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Portland private security guard Michael Bock told Fox News last month that fentanyl overdoses rose by 533% in Multnomah County, the state's most populous county, between 2018 and 2022. Dealers act with "absolute impunity," he said, and hand out drugs like they are a "7-Eleven."
"With this bill, we are doubling down on our commitment to make sure Oregonians have access to the treatment and care that they need," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber of Portland, one of the bill’s authors, adding that its passage will "be the start of real and transformative change for our justice system."
Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.
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