What scares Democratic legislators? The word “recriminalizing.”
By Sophie Peel
September 19, 2023 at 3:57 pm PDT
A group of political operatives filed twin ballot initiatives Monday aimed at overhauling Measure 110, the 2020 ballot measure that decriminalized possession of hard drugs and routed hundreds of millions of cannabis tax dollars to addiction treatment. Since its passage, widespread and public use of fentanyl and other hard drugs has soured many Oregonians on the law.
The proposed measure—there are two versions, both of which have been filed as ballot initiatives with the state and which the group plans to pursue until it settles on one to bring to the fall 2024 ballot—fundamentally changes much of Measure 110. (The crafters of the ballot initiatives say they will lobby the Oregon Legislature to make the requested changes, but will pursue the ballot initiatives if the Legislature falls short of their demands.)