Opinion | Oregon Decriminalized Drug Possession and Is Helping People With Addiction

“We’ve got to meet people where they’re at,” said Larry Turner, the president of Fresh Out, a prison re-entry program in Portland that primarily serves Black people. Mr. Turner is himself in recovery. His organization offers meals, housing, support groups and other aid. While some of the services (housing, for example) require abstinence, others do not. The idea is to attract people into recovery by building relationships, not making them feel bad about themselves.

“We support all paths to recovery,” said Fernando Peña, executive director of Northwest Instituto Latino in Portland and also a person in recovery. Like Fresh Out, Mr. Peña’s group offers a variety of options to help people move toward recovery, from offering clean needles to abstinence support.

It is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of Oregon’s approach. The new law went into effect last February, and about 90 percent of the funding for recovery services will reach providers only in the next few months. But in 2021 drug possession arrests dropped by about 75 percent compared with the number in 2019.

Critics note that the police aren’t issuing many citations for possession, and few who are cited are making the phone call to get the required treatment evaluation. Supporters, however, argue that reducing arrests and incarceration itself aids recovery and that creating a better system takes time.

“People who use drugs will no longer be quite as set apart from society,” Ms. Godvin said, “which immediately improves health problems, reduces stigma and increases their access and willingness to participate in services.”

Portugal, which is a model for Oregon’s changes, decriminalized drug possession in 2001 and expanded treatment. Heroin addiction rates, H.I.V. infections and overdose deaths declined there, while youth drug use rates stayed the same as in comparable countries with no policy change. American politicians would be singing hosannas if U.S. crime and drug use rates ever fell to the low levels now seen in Portugal.