“Maintaining an abstinence program that celebrates the success of a few people who achieve recovery through mandatory treatment, at the expense of many others who do not is a twisted calculation. It values one person’s life over the lives of others.”
By Morgan Godvin of the Oregon Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council, via Oregon Capital Chronicle
Recent experts and editorials have claimed that drug-related imprisonments had been rare for many years before Measure 110 in Oregon was passed in 2020. This is incorrect.
It is not necessary to go to prison for drug abuse. I’m a drug user. I know.
There are others like me.
According to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, from 2018 to 2019, Multnomah county residents were charged for drug possession in excess of 3,100 times. Many of these people ended up in prison. Drug courts have historically had low graduation rates. While marketed as “an alternative to incarceration”, many who choose them still end up in jail and with a criminal history.
Even if there is no other crime or treatment attempt, those who refuse to stop using drugs will be incarcerated. After someone’s diversion is terminated, they are placed on probation and often end up in jail.
Addiction is the continual use of a drug despite negative consequences. The consequences that I experienced, such as the destruction of relationships with others, financial ruin, and being written up for arriving late at work while I waited on a drug dealer who never showed up, were not enough to make me quit. And imposing additional consequences, like jail, was not enough either to stop the addiction.
When I was arrested in 2013 for heroin possession, while still wearing my Domino’s uniform, graduation rates of the drug court program were around 30%. The rest were thrown through the revolving doors of jails, unstable living conditions, depression, and addiction.
I relapsed after going to detox, and then an inpatient facility with my private insurance — it was not covered by the court. Suboxone is prescribed by a doctor. It prevents withdrawal and significantly reduces the effects heroin. It didn’t completely stop me, because I couldn’t force myself to take the drug every day. I thought it would be a good idea to remove free will from the equation to stop using forever. I thought that if I was in jail for a whole week and could only use the medication, I’d finally be free of cravings.
I asked to be taken into jail at my weekly drug check-in. The medical staff at the hospital refused to give me my medication. According to one study, opioid treatment drugs, such as buprenorphine (the main ingredient in Suboxone), can increase life expectancy by 50% for those with opioid use disorders. It would be considered a miracle if it was a cancer treatment. It is not available widely in prisons or jails. It does not work against fentanyl the same way it works against other opioids. Methadone, despite the high barriers set by federal regulations, is still considered to be a gold standard.
I was in jail for seven days, writhing in pain from the withdrawal that I requested. I was released, feeling a bit resentful and traumatized. I relapsed in less than an hour.
When I was terminated, I had already served five weeks of jail time over three stays. I also served four additional weeks due to probation violations. The majority of those placed on diversion will experience the same fate. Decriminalization is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s director, who also heads the federal research organization for addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The jail does not provide any benefit to the taxpayer.
It is unethical to put people who might not be ready for treatment into direct competition with those who are begging for help, knowing that we do not have the resources required for mandatory treatment. This could also create a mental association between “recovery”, “jail”, and “handcuffs.”
I would also rather not walk past people who smoke fentanyl in public. We’re repeating failed strategies from our past and those of most other states. It is not hypothetical or ideological. Just look at Washington. After its Supreme Court declared its drug possession law unconstitutional and led to a de facto period of decriminalization, Washington recriminalized the drugs. Seattle continues to have a monthly overdose rate that is a record. The state of Washington has seen the largest increase in fentanyl deaths year-over-year. Since fentanyl has taken over the Oregon drug market, overdose rates among adults and teens have increased at a rapid rate.
It has been proven that imprisonment has little impact on drug consumption. Safe consumption sites, which would allow people to use drugs in a public setting without being banned everywhere else, are one solution to the problem of public drug use. Baltimore, Maryland and West Virginia have higher poverty and overdose rates, yet far lower rates of homelessness–everyone can afford their rent if it’s cheap enough, no matter why they are poor.
By focusing on recriminalization we choose political cowardice.
Kevin Barton is the Washington County district attorney, and one of the main supporters of a proposal to recriminalize drug addiction. He claims that he wants to help addicts find recovery. However, the actions of those who are under his command belie this intention. In 2020, after petitioning for a reduction of my 2013 Washington County Drug Possession from a felony into a misdemeanor, I appeared before a court. After five years of recovery and as a member of the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission in my state, I was forced by a background check not to be able to get housing to live with an aunt.
One of Barton’s staff told the judge, “We do not believe that the felony conviction is excessively harsh in light of the criminal conduct of Ms. Godvin.” Barton staff did not want me to be able to move forward with my life and was instead determined to make me a felon forever. The judge overruled the decision immediately. Now I have my own apartment.
Data from the Criminal Justice Commission shows that of the 3,400 citations for drug possession issued between February 20,21 and October 20,22, almost 55 percent had not been charged the previous year or the following year. If possession were to be criminalized again, these people would only be in jail for their addiction rather than because they actually committed a crime.
I did not commit a crime to support my habit, I delivered pizza. Portland has a drug court that is strict with those who commit property crimes. It will not increase public safety to use police resources on people like me.
The Oregonian’s editorial in a recent issue was correct about one thing. Recriminalizing drug use will not solve any of our problems. But it left out a key point: Recriminalizing drugs will only create more problems. The influx of thousands of drug possession charges will put pressure on our public defenders and police, diverting resources from more serious crimes. This will increase overdoses, as the fentanyl tolerance is reduced by forced abstinence, whether it’s treatment for those that don’t want to be treated or prison. When people take the same dose and reuse it, they will overdose and eventually die.
It is wrong to maintain a program which celebrates the recovery of a few people through mandatory treatment, at the expense of many others. This puts the life of one person above the lives of those who do not.
This would be a return of a system which has caused harm to many of my close friends. Justin, Monty Amanda, Chris, and Jesse may you rest in Peace.
Morgan Godvin, a native Oregonian of over 40 years, is currently a member of the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission and the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council. She is also a researcher, writer and the founder of Beats Overdose. She graduated from the OHSU/PSU School of Public Health.
This article was originally published by Oregon Capital Chronicle.
The article Recriminalizing drugs would be a bad choice for Oregon (Op-Ed:) appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
