"Oregon Democrats would enact stiffer potential criminal penalties for
drug possession than they initially planned, under a negotiated bill
that could get a hearing as early as Friday.

In a bid to win support for their wide-ranging proposal to address the
state?s addiction crisis, top Democrats have now agreed to allow jail
sentences of up to 180 days for people caught with small amounts of
drugs like fentanyl, meth and heroin. The party had insisted for weeks
that 30 days was more practical, but that idea prompted fierce pushback
from Republicans, law enforcement and municipal governments.

A new version of Democrats? House Bill 4002 ? expected to be released in
coming days ? also weakens a provision that would have required police
to offer to connect people caught with drugs to treatment rather than
bringing them to jail.

That ?mandatory deflection? was designed to give drug users a choice to
avoid a criminal charge. But under the most recent version of the bill,
it?s only optional.

In exchange for the changes, Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Portland, and Rep.
Jason Kropf, D-Bend, said Wednesday they expect HB 4002 will find enough
support among both parties to pass. And with new buy-in from law
enforcement, they hope to defuse a potential ballot measure that
proposes a more-severe rollback of the state?s three-year-old drug
decriminalization law.

?We?ve continued to listen to people,? said Lieber, a former prosecutor,
who has helped lead the legislative effort to address addiction. ?We
wanted to have a treatment-first plan but we also realized that we
needed law enforcement buy-in. Inaction was not an option.?

The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on the changes. Details of the
plan were already being met with disappointment and anger Wednesday from
advocacy groups that have urged lawmakers not to end the drug
decriminalization policies ushered in by 2020's Measure 110. Some of
those groups said they?d been frozen out of discussions as Lieber, Kropf
and House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, negotiated terms with
Republicans and representatives from law enforcement, cities and
counties."

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02/21/oregon-democrats-agree-to-
stronger-criminal-penalties-for-drug-possession/#:~:text=In%20a%20bid%
20to%20win,like%20fentanyl%2C%20meth%20and%20heroin.

At the upper end using drugs on public transportation would result
in a class A misdemeaner, punishable by up to a year in jail. If you
read the whole thing it looks like there are still some problems to work
out.

TB