I found this report from OPB Radio documenting one person’s OD on fentanyl and a cop saving his life disturbing but also, for me, it raised some questions about the wisdom of the 110 retrenchment.
www.opb.org/article/2024/01/30/oregon-drug-crisis-portland-streets-overdoses-every-day/
The interviewed officer made the point that Measure 110 arrived on the scene at the same time as the spike in fentanyl. So it may be simplistic to make sweeping generalizations about 110 effectiveness.
Connecting migration with the rise in fentanyl availability is even more simplistic. On a basic level, it just doesn’t comport with the physical reality of this drug. Fentanyl is widely used in surgery to put patients under. The typical dosage for a 2-4 hour surgery is 400 MICROGRAMS (1mcg is one-millionth of a gram; a paper coffee filter weighs about 1 gram). A kilogram of raw drug cuts into tens of thousands of doses. No poor Cental Americans lugging 100-pound bales of product across the Rio Grande needed.
Pre-pandemic, Oregon spent $10,000 a year on each K-12 student and $44,000 a year on each prisoner. We’re in the top 10 and moving up. Also, note that $44k doesn’t include the pre-prison enforcement/judicial costs. One way or another we’ll all have to pay for 110 retrenchment.
Gene Dieken