Oregon shifts from decriminalization to new misdemeanor, funds 'deflection' as arrests and overdoses rose

Ken Sanchikran, executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, told the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 19, 2025, that Oregon’s recent changes to drug policy began with felony reductions in 2017, moved to a voter-approved decriminalization policy in 2020, and shifted again in 2024 after implementation problems and rising overdose deaths.

Sanchikran said the 2017 legislative change (House Bill 2355) created a user-quantity misdemeanor where possession had previously been a felony in most cases. "It led to an overall reduction in the number of arrests for possession of controlled substances," he said, noting an "18% reduction in just overall arrests across the board" after that change.

The 2020 statewide ballot measure, Measure 110, reclassified many possession offenses and mandated funding for local treatment. "The ballot measure passed pretty easily ... 58% to 41%," Sanchikran said. Measure 110 created a new low-level class E violation for many user-quantity possessions, paired with a presumptive $100 fine that would be waived if a person completed a health assessment; the law funded behavioral health resource networks and local treatment through marijuana tax revenues.

Sanchikran told lawmakers the rollout of treatment networks was slow. He said audits found "substantial inefficiencies and delays" in the Oregon Health Authority's distribution of funds and that the first grants did not flow for more than a year after the ballot measure. He said funding now totals about $300 million per biennium for the treatment system, though the implementation challenges delayed local programs.

On enforcement and outcomes, Sanchikran said arrests for possession fell sharply after Measure 110 and did not rebound even when other arrest types returned toward pre-pandemic levels. He said the Washington state trend in overdose increases tracked Oregon’s percentage changes. "Decriminalization ... corresponded with an uptick in overdose deaths," he said, adding that fentanyl’s arrival on the West Coast complicated causal analysis.

Local variation, he said, was large: some jurisdictions issued few class E citations while others—he cited Grants Pass in Josephine County—issued many, saying local police treated the measure as the voters’ will. He also said engagement with the Measure 110 health-assessment process was low: "Only 7 percent of individuals who received the E violation had a verified assessment for substance abuse," and "88 percent of the E violations resulted in a conviction," most without engagement in the assessment process.

Faced with public concern and competing ballot measures in 2024, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 4002. Sanchikran described HB 4002 as creating an unranked "drug enforcement misdemeanor" (DEM) to replace the class E violation for user-quantity possession, allowing courts to sentence up to 180 days in jail or impose an 18-month probation term with limited short jail sanctions for violations. He said courts remain prohibited from imposing fines or fees for the DEM conviction.

HB 4002 also encouraged non‑criminal pathways: the Legislature expanded conditional discharge (a probationary hold-then-dismiss process) and created the Oregon Behavioral Health Deflection grant to fund county deflection programs, which are collaborative programs between law enforcement and behavioral-health providers meant to divert people to treatment before formal prosecution.

Sanchikran said the Criminal Justice Commission is the funder and data steward for deflection: the commission received $20,000,000 for the first year, and 28 counties applied for and received funding based on a statewide formula. He said some counties began operating deflection programs quickly but that many counties—especially sparsely populated ones—faced capacity and startup barriers. "We had our checks out in six months," he said of the commission's grant rollout, noting that some smaller counties still found initial funding levels too low to stand up programs.

He described the commission’s reporting and oversight role: the commission maintains a public dashboard with weekly updates on arrests, deflection referrals and court outcomes, and it expects to file statutorily mandated reports including a racial-disparities report later in the year. Sanchikran said the commission will produce a best-practices report for deflection by April 1 and intends to issue standards before the end of the year.

Lawmakers asked about outcomes and implementation details. Sanchikran said it was early to judge long-term success: deflection uptake was roughly 80% of the commission’s first-year projection of about 2,000 people and the commission had recorded about 60 early "successful deflections" (individuals meeting program requirements) but that many programs are recent and some require multi-month participation. He also said some counties include case management and immediate handoffs to stabilization centers—Deschutes County’s 23-hour stabilization center was cited as a model—while others rely on slower referral processes that require court dates and can be harder for people in active addiction to meet.

Sanchikran emphasized that disentangling Measure 110’s effects from COVID disruptions, changes in court standards for prosecuting delivery, and the fentanyl surge is difficult. He recommended continued monitoring and noted the commission's willingness to return to report findings as they accumulate.

Ending: The Alaska committee members thanked the witness; no vote or formal action on Alaska policy was taken during the hearing. The meeting adjourned at 2:37 p.m.