Oregon may become first state to decriminalize hard drugs

• Besides casting their votes for the presidential election, voters in Oregon this week will decide on decriminalizing hard drugs via a ballot initiative called Measure 110.
• The bill would decriminalize personal possession of less than one gram of heroin or methamphetamine; two grams of cocaine; 12 grams of psilocybin mushrooms; 40 doses of LSD, oxycodone or methadone; and one gram or five pills of MDMA.
• Instead of being arrested, going to trial and facing possible jail time, users would have the option of paying $100 fines or attending new, free addiction recovery centers.
• The facilities would be funded by retail marijuana tax revenues collected by the state, which is in excess of $45M annually.
• Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize marijuana possession in 1973, and later approved medical use in 1998 and recreational use in 2014.
• Oregon's measure is backed by the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.
• Opponents include two dozen district attorneys, who have said the measure "recklessly decriminalizes possession of the most dangerous types of drugs (and) will lead to an increase in acceptability of dangerous drugs."
• Countries including Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland have already decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs.
• https://seekingalpha.com/news/3629362-oregon-may-become-first-state-to-decriminalize-hard-drugs