Oregon Turns into First State To Decriminalize Exhausting Medication

Oregon is the first state in the country to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and LSD.

The Law to Restore Drug Addiction Treatment was passed by 59% to 41% and will revolutionize the way the state deals with drug addiction.

“People who suffer from addiction are treated more effectively in the health system than with criminal sanctions,” says the bill. “One approach to health care involves a health assessment to identify the needs of people with addiction and how to connect with the services they need.”

Under the bill, revenues from the state’s marijuana tax revenues, which exceed $ 100 million a year, will fund addiction services, including counseling. The state is taking a health-related approach to managing the state’s drug crisis by providing treatment and recovery services to anyone who needs it without the fear of arrest or prosecution.

To be clear, this doesn’t make these hard drugs perfectly legal in the state. When a person is caught with less than 1 gram of heroin or MDMA; 2 grams of cocaine or methamphetamine; 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms; and 40 doses of LSD, oxycodone, or methadone could be fined $ 100 instead of being arrested and charged with possession. In addition, the fines could be waived if the person agrees to be screened at an addiction recovery center.

The bill was supported by a variety of organizations including the State Chapter of the American College of Physicians, the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon School Psychologists’ Association, the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians, and the ACLU.

CBS 47 reported that every eleventh citizen is a drug addict and nearly two people die from overdoses in the state every day. The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimates the bill will result in nearly 4,000 fewer residents being convicted of possession of a controlled substance.

According to Fox News, Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and instead of increasing use, there was a decrease in sexually transmitted diseases Diseases and deaths from overdose.

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