Last year, Oregon ended its three-year experiment with drug decriminalization known as Measure 110. This came when Oregon lawmakers passed House Bill 4002 to implement new criminal penalties for drug possession and fund efforts at the county level to deflect drug users away from the criminal justice system and into treatment as a way to avoid charges. Those deflection programs look different in every county across the state. It has now been a year since that program began in Washington County. District Attorney Kevin Barton joins us, along with John Karp-Evans, the deputy director of the Peer Company, to talk about Washington County’s legal and behavioral health responses to drug use.
Think Out Loud