When we last visited the Oregon Legislature’s Dope Committee, they had just passed House Bill 4002 to fix the state’s notorious Measure 110 decriminalizing drugs.
That was more than three months ago.
The Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response (hence, Dope Committee for clarity) recently reconvened to see how things are progressing.
It looks like the addicts will still be running the show.
HB 4002, which takes effect Sept. 1, recriminalized drug possession — but only barely. Possession of drugs, like meth, heroin and fentanyl, can lead to arrests as a misdemeanor. If convicted, offenders could go to jail. If they want to avoid jail, they could opt for a “deflection” program to treat their addictions. If they successfully finish treatment, their arrest records are expunged.
A little over $20.7 million has been allocated to fund the “deflection” programs, which will be run by counties. The money has been deposited into the Oregon Behavioral Health Deflection Program Account.
Note the name of the account: “Behavioral Health.” The committee that will decide who gets the grants already exists within the Criminal Justice Commission, and it’s called IMPACTS — Improving People’s Access to Community-Based Treatment, Supports, and Services. (Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt’s previous job was running the CJC, and he served on the committee that doled out IMPACTS money.)
What all this means is that drug addicts who have routinely stolen to support their habits — or committed other crimes — will continue to be treated like patients, not criminal offenders.
When Oregon voters were lured into voting for Measure 110 to decriminalize drugs, the selling point was that cannabis revenue would pay for treatment for drug addiction. This myth assumes that there is a cure/treatment for drug addiction. There isn’t.
It helps to remember that Oregon’s richest man — Phil Knight — lost his son to cancer. There is no cure for some cancers no matter how much money you can spend. Likewise, there is no cure, no sure-fire treatment, for some drug addictions. The closest thing to a cure when it comes to addiction is not using certain drugs in the first place.
It also helps to remember that one of Oregon’s most beloved governors — Tom McCall — lost his son Sam to drug addiction, and that was last century.
At the Dope Committee the mood appeared upbeat and optimistic. Everyone seemed ready to fall into the warm embrace of belonging. Even Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson who was invited to testify.
“I consider myself one of the OG’s,” she told committee members.
A prosecutor who calls herself an Original Gangsta. How cool is that?
This is America in the 21st Century. The mainstream has adopted gang and drug culture. It’s how we live now. (Ice-T’s album “O.G. Original Gangster” came out in 1991. OG meant gang members who had been there since the beginning. The word evolved as a term of praise for someone who is respected. No disrespect, but if middle-aged white ladies with law degrees are calling themselves OG, the word has lost its punch.)
Clarkson and Marion County are offering their Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program as a template for the state’s deflection programs. The LEAD concept predates Measure 110 and trains police officers to assist drug-addicted offenders in seeking treatment instead of being arrested.
Last month, about 335 representatives from behavioral health and local government agencies, law enforcement and community-based organizations across Oregon gathered at the Salem Convention Center for a day-long HB 4002 Implementation Symposium entitled “A Deep Dive into Deflection and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Programs.”
Of Oregon’s 36 counties, 33 sent participants. The media apparently were not invited, but organizers said they would post video. Clarkson reprised excerpts of her portion of the symposium in her testimony before the Dope Committee.
When Clarkson was a deputy DA, she and some colleagues went to Seattle to look at that city’s LEAD program. They liked how flexible it was, that it could be transferred to other agencies.
“People can cheat off our paper. We cheat off Seattle’s,” she said, adding that Marion County has been using it for about eight years.
Clarkson recalled that after she visited Seattle, she returned to Salem and told her boss, then-District Attorney Walt Beglau, that she wanted to try that city’s LEAD program.
What it would require, she told the Dope Committee recalling her conversation with Beglau, was a DA who wouldn’t file criminal charges against someone who had committed a chargeable offense, had a history of low-level crimes with multiple arrests but no record of violence.
Who does that sound like?
It sounds like Mike Schmidt, who recently lost re-election as Multnomah County District Attorney after his progressive, lenient approach made Portland notable for street crime, public drug use and tent camps.
In his own way, Clarkson’s former boss Beglau was just as weak a prosecutor as Schmidt. But since it was Marion County, and Beglau was not politically ambitious, his tenure largely went unnoticed.
So how is Marion County’s program anything new? Well, it has Hank Crapser.
“How do we make more Hanks?” asked Amanda Dalton, lobbyist for the Oregon District Attorneys Association. (According to Orestar, Dalton gave $1,000 to Schmidt’s campaign in 2019 and again in 2023. She has contributed $1,150 to Clarkson between 2018-2022.)
Dalton presented her testimony to the Dope Committee before Clarkson spoke and helped build interest in Hank. He is an example of what will be called navigators in the deflection programs under HB 4002.
More praise for Hank came from Josh Wolf, program coordinator for Marion County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, which includes 11 law enforcement agencies.
Wolf described what happens when Hank shows up after police have picked up someone. He opens the back door of the patrol car and tells the person sitting inside, “I know exactly where you’ve been.”
Clarkson recalled how many times Hank Crapser’s name crossed her desk when she was a deputy DA, and he was getting into trouble. Eventually, he was given the LEAD treatment and found officers who asked “How can we best help this individual?”
Today, Crapser is a licensed counselor.
When it came time for Hank to tell the Dope Committee his own story, he started off in familiar territory — a recitation of his bad boy days.
“I was a long-term gang member, career criminal. … I spent 30 years strung out on drugs. … If I wasn’t in prison, I was on my way back to prison.”
He ended up attributing his success to something not included in the LEAD boilerplate. His life changed in January 2013 when he became a first-time father.
“Mom was on her way to prison,” he said. He decided his past wouldn’t be a waste if he could put it to use.
Crapser is no Morgan Godvin. The former heroin addict, who opposed HB 4002 and supported Measure 110, was the opening act six months ago when the Dope Committee started hearings on what to do about Measure 110. (See “The Dope on Measure 110.”)
Godvin killed a friend with a heroin overdose and still holds a grudge because she was sent to prison.
Crapser, by comparison, said he got away from criminal thinking by rejecting an “us vs. them” mentality. He stopped hating cops and began to appreciate all the people who had been trying to help him.
“‘How can I help this person?’ When I tell my clients there is a roomful of law enforcement officers all saying things like that, things start to change,” he said.
Crapser received the highest praise from Clarkson’s husband, a cop.
“He said I could do more in five minutes than he had done in five years. …There is a certain credibility … I used to live where they live, do what they do.”
Crapser’s transformation is impressive. His desire to give back seems genuine. However, hanging the success of HB 4002 on one man’s shoulders is delusional when a state has condoned drug abuse as long as Oregon. This state has a legacy of enacting criminal justice reforms that run counter to good sense.
Earlier this year when the Dope Committee was holding that series of hearings trying to fix Measure 110, Crapser spoke briefly and said that addicts won't seek treatment without criminal justice intervention.
“That accountability is what’s missing out there — that nudge from a judge,” he said.
One of the problems in Oregon is just getting drug offenders in front of a judge, let alone giving them a nudge. In the 1970’s, Oregon got rid of the cash bail system because it was unfair to the poor. Now we have a system that is unfair to the law-abiding community.
“Oregon has historically been a leader in pre-trial reform,” is how the Oregon Judicial Department characterizes the state’s experiment with bail.
That historic leadership led to a state bail system that is so convoluted, many criminal defendants were routinely released after arrest. As a result, for years there has been a problem with defendants failing to appear for court dates. Why should they? What was the downside?
Changes to the bail system have been in the works since Senate Bill 48 passed in 2021. The bail system is still convoluted, but with HB 4002 there are new efforts to make real change.
Circuit Court Judge Matthew B. Shirtcliff, presiding judge in Baker County, told the committee that under new orders issued by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan A. Flynn more people charged with the most serious drug-related crimes can now be held after arrest until they appear before a judge.
Among the overriding circumstances that judges may consider when deciding whether to hold a defendant are the amount and type of drugs, the presence of a firearm, prior arrests and a history of failing to appear in court.
Committee member state Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), works as a municipal prosecutor, but as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee has a history of voting for legislation favorable to the defense. He showed immediate interest.
Under the new system, he asked, what would be the definition of a Failure to Appear? How far back will courts go to look and see if other Failures to Appear have occurred?
Shirtcliff reassured him.
“We have created a lot of latitude,” he replied.
Also in the works in preparation for HB 2004’s kickoff in September is bringing back Drug Courts. But first, a task force will be needed to redesign them.
The 19-member Task Force on Specialty Courts is supposed to include two district attorneys or designees of district attorneys. In this case, Senate president Rob Wagner appointed Aaron Knott, policy director for Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt and John Haroldson, Benton County District Attorney.
Haroldson, who likes to call himself Oregon’s first Hispanic district attorney, is known for such profundities as “Justice requires two components to exist. One, you must have community. Second, you must have love.”
He uttered that statement at an Oregon Humanities’ Think & Drink panel discussion on “Making Democracy” held at Portland’s Alberta Rose Theater in January 2020.
This week House Speaker Julie Fahey made her appointments to the Task Force on Specialty Courts, including two members who are public defenders: Multnomah County Public Defender Chris Behre and Lane County Public Defender Laura Ruggeri.
As the news media have dutifully repeated ad nauseam, there is a “crisis” shortage of defense attorneys for the indigent. According to this narrative, nobody wants to be a criminal defense attorney for the poor because the pay is too low, and the workload is too high. (For another view, read Portland Dissent’s “Reimagining Oregon’s Pity Party.” It’s largely a self-created crisis. Oregon is more generous than many states in providing attorneys for the indigent. You don’t even have to be poor or accused of a crime. And never-ending appeals are on the taxpayer’s dime.)
Not only are criminal defense attorneys in short supply, so are behavioral health care workers. In order to have the drug treatment programs promised in both Measure 110 and HB 4004, there have to be employees willing to work with violent drug addicts who have been known to assault the staff. There is a task force for that.
This week, House Speaker Fahey appointed several members to the Task Force on Improving the Safety of Behavioral Healthcare Workers — among them, state Rep. Travis Nelson (D-N/NE Portland) and Rep. Cyrus Javadi (R-Tillamook) as well as managers from Cascadia Health and the Clackamas Behavioral Health Division, overnight shelter staff from All Good Northwest — and an attorney from Disability Rights Oregon.
To broaden its political base, Disability Rights Oregon considers drug addicts and inmates to be disabled and, thus, in need of its advocacy. A lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Oregon is why a Marion County judge this week was ordered to release a man from jail to a residential care facility, even though she considered him a public safety risk. The man had attacked three school employees on a playground.
And then there’s IMPACTS. Once again, it stands for Improving People’s Access to Community-Based Treatment, Supports, and Services. It’s the kind of organization that refers to “justice-involved clients.” Visit the website and look at the grant committee that will be awarding grants for HB 4002’s deflection programs.
IMPACTS has been in existence five years with an initial allocation of $30 million. What was its impact during Measure 110? It established Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs) in each county to provide comprehensive and wraparound services.
An evaluation prepared last year noted, “The passage of Ballot Measure 110 closely coincides with implementation of IMPACTS program activities. Decreasing incarceration rates and increased funding for SUD (Substance Use Disorder) prevention and treatment could affect outcomes related to IMPACTS.”
So it appears that many of the usual players will be leading the implementation of HB 4002. No wonder hopes are riding on a guy like Hank Crapser. He stands out among the acronyms and bureaucrats.
Disability Rights Oregon - a more inappropriately named organization you will never find. DRO did not support our lawsuit against the city of Portland to clear sidewalks so that those with mobility and sight disabilities would have access to public right of ways - rights recognized via the ADA. Drink that in for a moment. They opposed Disabled Oregonians suing to uphold their federally recognized Rights. Truth: They are a political organization USING people with disabilities (and now addictions and incarcerations) - by weaponizing our “marginalization” to infect Oregon with their political solution sets long on funding, abhorrent from the perspective of successful or improved outcomes.
Your skilled reporting and clear writing is refreshing, Pamela. Having left Portland over 40 years ago for eastern Oregon, I have little contact with Portlanders, but saw some on a zoom meeting the other day on a Braver Angels facilitated call about the urban-rural divide in Oregon. To me, the participants from Portland showed Stockholm syndrome like behavior. It was revealing to see how the gradual takeover by malign groups has affected the population. Little wonder that our counties in the east part of the state want to move the state line and join Idaho. Between “affordable housing” and the supposed measure 110 fix, I worry that the Portland metro area will be exporting its homeless/mental health/addiction issue eastward.