Examining the Multifaceted Impacts of Drug Decriminalization on Public Safety, Law Enforcement, and Prosecutorial Discretion, Oregon, 2008-2024

This project sought to understand the effects of successive drug policy reforms in the state of Oregon. These include three changes since 2013 to reduce the enforcement and punishment of low-level drug possession. House Bill 3194 passed in 2013, which reduced mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana offenses and diverted more driving and drug-related offenses to probation. House Bill 2355 passed in 2017, which reclassified Schedule I and II possession of controlled substance (PCS), reducing these from a moderate felony to a misdemeanor. Then in 2021, M110 was implemented, downgrading certain quantities of PCS from a misdemeanor to a citation, resulting in a maximum 100 dollar fine or completed health assessment. The researchers conducted a retrospective longitudinal analysis using statewide administrative data to assess the impacts of these drug law reforms. Measures included police stops, PCS arrests, court filings, convictions, jail and prison admissions, crime rates, drug seizures, and drug-related overdose deaths.