Oregon’s pioneering drug decriminalization effort faces rollback

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

46% : Officials estimate the law will eventually add about 2,257 convictions for misdemeanor drug possession a year to Oregon’s justice system, with Black and Hispanic defendants represented at a disproportionate rate.
43% : “It’s easier for the legislature to blame and stigmatize and disappear people into jails than to fix the problem they had a hand in creating,” Emily Kaltenbach, the Drug Policy Alliance’s senior director of state advocacy, said in an interview.
38% : Nearly 60 percent of Oregon voters approved the measure in November 2020, as national calls for justice reform mounted after the police murder of George Floyd.

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