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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: US – DECRIMINALIZING HARD DRUGS
HEADLINE: Oregon Experimenting with Decriminalizing Small Amounts of Hard Drugs
TEASER: Program modeled on Portugal is falling behind on treatment
PUBLISHED AT: 11/24/2023 at 12:15pm
BYLINE: Deborah Bloom
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Portland, Oregon
VIDEOGRAPHER: Deborah Bloom
VIDEO EDITOR:
ASSIGNING EDITOR: Stearns
SCRIPT EDITORS: Stearns, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:09
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVR
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO: In the Pacific Northwest, one U.S. state is trying a novel approach to combatting opioid abuse – decriminalizing small amounts of hard drugs. From Oregon, Deborah Bloom has our story.))
((NARRATOR))
JB lives on the streets of Oregon’s biggest city. He’s an active fentanyl user and says he has been abusing opiates for 20 years.
((JB, Oregon Drug Addict))
"If it blackens up or tastes really funky, it's not good stuff. I get really good stuff."
((NARRATOR))
In a country struggling with an epidemic of fentanyl abuse, voters here approved decriminalizing small amounts of controlled substances in 2020.
The goal was to destigmatize drug abuse and invest more in recovery.
Instead of facing criminal charges, people caught with small amounts of hard drugs are given a citation and an opportunity for treatment.
It’s a plan modeled on Portugal’s 2001 decision to decriminalize some hard drugs and boost treatment.
But in Oregon, data collected since the program’s start show few people following up with treatment, and those who do are faced with long waits thanks to the state's historic underinvestment in behavioral healthcare. Tera Hurst heads an alliance of Oregon groups involved in the program.
((Tera Hurst, Health Justice Recovery Alliance))
"What we've seen is when you don't have the services available, and you don't have the care and the infrastructure and the plans together when you're dealing with a crisis, it usually doesn't go well."
((NARRATOR))
She says making the program a success depends on shifting people’s views of addicts.
((Tera Hurst, Health Justice Recovery Alliance))
"Do you see them as making poor choices? Or are you following the science that says this is a disease, this is something that can be treated, not cured. People do recover."
((NARRATOR))
Launched during the coronavirus pandemic, the program known as Measure 110 has had uneven results, leading some to question its effectiveness. Max Williams is a former director of the Oregon Department of Corrections and a former state lawmaker.
((Max Williams, Ballot Measure 110 Coalition Member))
"Measure 110 was about meeting people where they were, meeting people who were dealing with substance abuse where they are. But Measure 110 has often left those people there. And we want to meet those people where they are as well, we just don't want to leave them there."
((NARRATOR))
Williams is part of a coalition backing a new referendum to re-criminalize small amounts of hard drugs and make substance abuse treatment mandatory.
((Max Williams, Ballot Measure 110 Coalition Member))
"The whole idea here is not to ramp up additional charges on an individual, make a longer criminal history, or to use ineffectively jail resources. It's to create enough consequence along with reward to motivate this particular difficult group of people dealing with addiction to actually seek treatment and recovery services."
((NARRATOR))
David is a drug addict who also declined to share his last name.
He says he has tried detoxing many times but struggles to stay sober when he says Portland treatment centers are always short on space.
((David, Oregon Drug Addict))
"There's just no beds available anywhere. For in-patient, anything like that. And when the staff tell you that, it's frustrating. It's very frustrating."
((NARRATOR))
A 2021 federal survey ranked Oregon last in the nation for the availability of drug treatment facilities. Since the start of Measure 110 in 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioid overdose deaths in Oregon have doubled.
((Deborah Bloom VOA News, Portland, Oregon))
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