A vote for treatment

10/20/20

Our healthcare system is not equipped for the needs in our community. The fires and economic hardships have displaced more than 100,000 Oregonians at a time when we face the most severe affordable housing shortage in our history and rank 50th in access to basic substance abuse treatment. People are dying preventable deaths while on waiting lists for help.

Our criminal justice system causes unintended consequences by worsening the situation. By arresting, jailing, prosecuting and paroling simple drug possession cases, we impact people’s chances in competing for a job, a place to live, student loans and even a credit card. Marginalized communities are disproportionately harmed.

Measure 110 would reclassify and reduce simple misdemeanor drug possession offenses, shifting the paradigm from public safety to public health. The change in policy would reduce racial disparities in arrests by 95% and stop ruining the lives of people based on a single mistake. It does not legalize drugs or create new taxes. It simply puts us on a more humane path, where people get access to treatment instead of criminal punishments.

Join me and NAACP, Oregon School Psychologists, American College of Physicians, and the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians in voting yes!

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