The streets of Portland resemble an 'open air drug market' after state officials' scheme to decriminalize hard drugs led to a surge in overdose deaths, critics claim. external siteLaw enforcement agents say that the streets of Portland are full of homeless addicts openly buying and selling drugs and that signs of drug addiction are actually increasing statewide, reported. Photos show the desperate situation in the liberal Pacific Northwest city, where people can be seen shooting up drugs or passed out in broad daylight. The dreadful scene comes 16 months after Ballot Measure 110-which passed with 58.8 percent support- decriminalized hard drugs in the Democrat-run state.
(Image: [[|]]) Photos show the desperate situation in the Pacific Northwest city, where people can be seen shooting up drugs or passed out in broad daylight
(Image: [[|]]) Law enforcement agents say that the streets of Portland are full of homeless addicts openly buying and selling drugs
(Image: [[|]]) A man can be seen using a needle in Portland over a year after Ballot Measure 110 went into effect in February 2021
(Image: [[|]]) Drug overdose deaths in Oregon also hit an all-time high in 2021 with 1069, a 41 percent increase from 2020
Oregon was the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs after voters approved a ballot measure in 2020 to decriminalize hard drugs. A person found with personal amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs receives a citation, like a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they call a hotline for a health assessment. The state's program, which has been promoted as a way to establish and fund addiction recovery centers that would offer people aid instead of incarceration, is being watched as a potential model for other states.
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Drug overdose deaths in the state also hit an all-time high in 2021 with 1069, a 41 percent increase from 2020, Fox News reported. And of the 1,885 people who received tickets for personal possession in the first year, only 91 people, a measly one percent, called the hotline, according to its non-profit operator, Lines For Life. Earlier this month, those behind the scheme admitted that they had underestimated the effort required to distributed the $300 million in funds for the program, and only $40 million has been spent. 'So clearly, if we were to do it over again, I would have asked for many more staff much quicker in the process,' said Steve Allen, Oregon's behavioral health director. 'We were just under-resourced to be able to support this effort, underestimated the work that was involved in supporting something that looked like this and partly we didn't fully understand it until we were in the middle of it.' The ballot measure redirected millions of dollars in tax revenue from the state's legal marijuana industry to treatment.
(Image: [[|]]) The streets of Downtown Portland are filled with open drug use, with the homeless using and buying hard drugs during the day
(Image: [[|]]) After Ballot Measure 110 was passed a person found with personal amounts of heroin, www.bonkersforhonkers.com cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs receives a citation, like a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they call a hotline for a health assessment
(Image: [[|]]) Emergency personnel carries a man away as the drug use in the streets of Portland is said to be rampant after the passing of Ballot Measure 110
(Image: [[|]]) A woman enters the Great Circle drug treatment center in Salem, Oregon
(Image: [[|]]) As the city deals with a rising homelessness problem, more than 16,000 Oregonians have accessed services through Measure 110 funding
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DM.later('bundle', function() DM.molFeCarousel.init('#p-39', 'channelCarousel', “activeClass” : “wocc”, “pageCount” : “3.0”, “pageSize” : 1, “onPos”: 0, “updateStyleOnHover”: true ); ); But applications for funding stacked up after state officials underestimated the work required to vet them and get the money out the door, officials testified earlier this month before the House Interim Committee on Behavioral Health. The health authority said $40 million in funds have been disbursed. But about $265 million set aside for the 2021-23 biennium still hasn't been spent, said Devon Downeysmith, spokeswoman for the Health Justice Recovery Alliance. (Image: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_p4aQPkYlwrw/S-zapvjUcuI/AAAAAAAAEE0/l43YK2Df7L0/s400/Army2BSkirt.jpg)Hundreds of providers, which screen the needs of people who use drugs, offer case management, treatment, housing and links to other services, are waiting for those funds. </iframe>
