This took hundreds of hours of work by a broad group of stakeholders including the Oregon State Sheriffs Association, the Oregon District Attorneys Association, the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, the League of Oregon Cities, the Association of Oregon Counties and many more departments, agencies, organizations, businesses, and individuals that provided input for this new bill.
HB 4002A goes well beyond repeal of Measure 110 and gives law enforcement the tools they need to save lives and get drug dealers off the street. It is not perfect but it is sure to be a lot better than Measure 110.
Here are some of the changes:
With recriminalization and required treatment as outlined in HB4002A, a drug user has two options: to pursue treatment or serve jail time.
The bill also reinstates 72 hour welfare holds for intoxicated persons who pose a danger to themselves or others.
It’s also important to note that if treatment is not available at the time, the drug user may end up serving jail time in order to protect public safety.
(so you better get that treatment out there – OHA!)
The bill also gives law enforcement the tools they need to go after and punish the drug dealers; Democrat-led legislation took these essential tools away over the last few years.
Here are the serious flaws” First and foremost is the lack of fiscal accountability. YES! The Oversight and Accountability Council formed by measure 110, is directed under the auspices of the OHA to be in charge of all HB 4002 funds. We have seen the OAC be slow to distribute the funds and fund the wrong priorities. We have numerous reports of funds being misused; the OHA is currently trying to recover funds that were apparently used to purchase homes, cars and other fraudulent uses (gee, the criminals are in charge of the criminals) of the money, while NOT funding to increase available treatment!!!!!
WHO DID THIS? OMG
OK Now I get it – As the funding for the Oregon drug plan is hijacked by those that oversee it, the governor of the state has to make up these funds by putting a tax on our houses. Good idea Tina, but thankfully it didn’t work out that way. YET!
In addition, HB4002A does nothing to deal with the drug cartels and the horrors associated human trafficking. (Could OHA be involved in that?)
And the City of Portland has so many problems like lack of leadership that they may see no way to make this bill work.
(I am really proud of the people who came together to do this!)Good Oregonians They Be