Editorial: Oregon’s non-existent strategy on teen addiction

Oregon legislators took a big step last week toward plugging some of the holes in Oregon’s management of Measure 110, the initiative that decriminalized personal drug possession and dedicated funds for addiction treatment services. House Bill 2513 – a list of administrative and accountability fixes to address inefficiencies that plagued the measure’s implementation – handily passed the Oregon House last week with well-deserved bipartisan support. Dubbed the “Hope and Recovery Bill,” HB 2513 now moves on to the Senate.

What the bill does not do, however, is offer much hope and recovery for teens and young adults with drug or alcohol addiction. While the bill should improve the availability of programs for adults, it does not include targeted actions to boost Oregon’s meager services for teens, acknowledged Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, who led the 80-member task force behind the bill. Part of the problem of plugging the holes in the youth system? “We don’t really have a system” for youth and adolescents to begin with, Nosse observed bluntly at a hearing last month. Instead, Oregon’s strategy has been to simply leave it to individual providers to offer services for youth if they want – an obscenely hands-off approach that has left youths and their families with few options for help.

The state’s lack of a system may seem surprising, but it’s not new, hidden or unknown to state leaders. Multiple reports dating back to 2008 have warned of the need for building out a network of services for teens and young people, as The Lund Report’s Emily Green wrote in a recent story. In addition, Oregon has been called out year after year as one of the states providing the fewest addiction services while having among the highest rates of youth alcohol and drug use.

The state’s absence of a strategy has proven especially deadly to young people amid the fentanyl crisis, as Green wrote, with the state’s overdose death rate for teens now the fastest growing in the country. In 2018, four Oregonians between the ages of 15 and 19 years old died of drug overdoses, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That increased to 27 in 2021. For young adults between 20 and 24, overdose deaths increased from 26 to 64 in that same time period. And yet, even as high school communities mourn the deaths of students to fentanyl overdoses now, a bill to require school districts to provide opioid education targets the 2024-2025 school year as the implementation date. That’s despite the fact that the Beaverton School District has nationally sought-after curriculum on the issue ready to go, as The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Julia Silverman reported.

Oregon cannot solve our substance abuse crisis by focusing on adults alone. Yet, over and over, that has been the state’s approach. Even the funding bonanza that Measure 110 brought to the state reflects the adults-first, youth-never approach, with the vast majority of all grants going to programs geared for adults.

Legislators and Gov. Tina Kotek need to make investments and commitments now to show youth needs are as important as those of adults.

In his remarks last month, Nosse suggested creating a new work group to determine how best to build a youth-oriented system – a necessary first step. And the state already has a committee that should be asked to take that on. The System of Care Advisory Council, which includes representatives from multiple state agencies and health care organizations, was created by the 2019 Legislature to develop and maintain a coordinated statewide system for addressing youth public health, child welfare, education, juvenile justice and other youth-centered needs. Building out an addiction-care system – including a way to get teens to seek help now that justice system referrals have dropped under Measure 110 – falls well within its expertise. Legislators and the governor should also commit dollars to support the council’s development of such a strategy in conjunction with the Oregon Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission and providers of youth services.

But tasking a group to study and issue recommendations with urgency is only a first step. Legislators must show their commitment to immediate action this session with money devoted to youth addiction and mental health needs. That can come by explicitly directing a portion of any new funds for residential treatment operations, outpatient facilities and other drug and alcohol addiction services to go toward youth-specific programs throughout urban and rural Oregon. The group that issues Measure 110 grants should also consult with state agencies, commissions and providers on devoting a portion of funds to youth-specific applications.

And Kotek should direct the Oregon Health Authority and other agencies to examine regulatory burdens that prevent or make it difficult to treat youth for both addictions as well as mental health concerns in one place. A frequent refrain among providers, this is an administrative barrier that can and should be rectified immediately.

Kotek and Oregon legislators are showing their commitment to tackling the staggering multitude of crises hitting Oregon. But they cannot check off the substance abuse crisis by focusing only on how it affects adults. Failing to meet the needs of Oregon’s youth now only ensures a new generation will carry on the crisis.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board