Oregon officials acknowledge drug treatment rollout was botched

SALEM — Efforts to get millions of dollars in funding to treatment centers and related services as part of Oregon’s pioneering drug decriminalization have been botched even as drug addictions and overdoses increase, state officials and lawmakers said on Thursday.

Oregonians passed Ballot Measure 110 in 2020 decriminalizing possession of personal amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs — the first in the nation to do so. A person found with drugs receives a citation, like a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they call a hotline for a health assessment.