In 2021, Oregon made history becoming the first state to decriminalize the possession of controlled substances with Measure 110 and earmarking $300 million for recovery and treatment.
Researchers at Portland State are studying the impacts of M110, both in the immediate and long term. The three-year project from Kelsey Henderson, Christopher Campbell, and Brian Renauer examines trends in law enforcement, prosecution/sentencing, and public safety outcomes both with state data and through interviews with decision makers. This study aims to understand how Oregon's monumental experiment on responding to drug use will impact the community.
The Year One report exploring police officer perceptions of M110 impacts is now complete, and includes findings from interviews with ten agencies (two state agencies; four Sheriff’s Departments; and four Police Departments), and six different counties (three categorized as “urban” and three categorized as “rural”).
“The reason we are focusing on law enforcement first is because police are often the first interaction people using substances have with the system, and those interactions tend to be the most consequential,” Campbell said. “Also, from a policy perspective, if we are expecting to determine if M110 works as intended or not, then it is critical that we understand how it is being implemented at the line officer level.”
Overall, officers perceive M110 to be not effective and even harmful by creating detrimental consequences for public safety. Five main themes emerged as part of the research:
- Theme 1: Loss of probable cause to search
- Theme 2: Loss of informants
- Theme 3: Decreases in proactive policing
- Theme 4: Perceived lack of accountability for individuals
- Theme 5: Hesitancy to issue M110 citations.
The report shows that officers are skeptical of M110’s ability to motivate people to voluntarily seek treatment. As a result, they are hesitant to issue citations.
“One of the most important themes we heard in Year 1 is a perception that Measure 110 appears to be removing the weight of criminal justice involvement that is often necessary to compel those suffering most intensely from a substance abuse disorder to engage in treatment services,” Renauer said. “Exploring the validity of this perception more thoroughly will be a key component of our remaining research tasks.”
Additionally, policy changes to drug possession over time have created an ambiguous foundation for enforcement and discretion, leading officers to feel confused about the tools they can use and the role society wants them to play.
Many officers perceived a strong causal relationship between the implementation of M110 and negative community impacts, an almost “perfect storm.” The impact of M110 has to be considered in the context of a number of other historical events (like COVID-19/court closures, the public defense crisis and appellate decisions).
“Not only have there been multiple drug law and policy changes over the last years, but the courts are dealing with covid case backlogs and an on-going public defense crisis,” Henderson said. “Our system is structured to be interrelated. A change or issue in one area is going to pressure another. We're witnessing some of that pressure now.”