The Dope on Measure 110

A legislative committee invites supporters to have their say

Killing a friend with a heroin overdose turned into a legitimate career move for Morgan Godvin.

After four years, the Portland woman came out of prison healthier and better educated than she went in. On Monday she was lead speaker before a packed state legislative committee hearing considering changes to Ballot Measure 110, which legalized virtually all drugs for personal use in Oregon.

Godvin considers herself a victim of draconian drug laws. She supports Measure 110, passed by voters in 2020. The law is now blamed for increased crime and drug overdoses. Citizen groups are working to bring it back for another vote in 2024. In the meantime, a legislative committee is weighing other options.

Godvin’s invited testimony — as a “Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Researcher” —set the tone for the four-hour meeting of the Joint Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response.

Godvin recalled the misery of being thrown in jail while she was going through heroin withdrawal, throwing up into a trash can with 77 other women looking on.

Addicts “psychologically associate treatment with handcuffs and jail” when drugs are criminalized, she said, citing scientific studies that show “incarceration produces harm.”

It was a theme repeated by other speakers.

“We do not support incarceration. … We are not going to arrest our way out of this,” more than one speaker insisted.

Several speakers represented various nonprofits that receive funding to provide drug treatment. They, too, supported Measure 110 and were opposed to recriminalizing drugs.

“For it (Measure 110) to work, it costs money,” said Gloria Sandoval of Unite Oregon, which is led by black and indigenous people.

“We have to stop calling law enforcement,” said Morgan Matthews, Vice President of Partnerships at Connections Health Solutions.

Vague words and acronyms dominated the testimony: LEAD for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, which has been in use for several years, allows police to steer drug addicts to treatment instead of arrest when they are caught committing low-level crimes.

LEAD also has morphed into something squishier: Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (another LEAD). What does any of this have to do with Measure 110?

“People may be out there still doing problematic things…,” said Brendan Cox, Director of Policing Strategies, LEAD Support Bureau in Washington state. … We know enforcement is not going to solve (the problem)… Folks use drugs for a lot of reasons.”

Even Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton seemed to take a softer tack. He is working on a coalition to fix Measure 110. He laid out three “off-ramps” to dealing with drug-related crimes:

The first off-ramp, Barton said, would be LEAD or something like CAHOOTS (Crime Assistance Helping Out On the Streets) or Portland Street Response where “they never see the inside of a courtroom … never have a record.”

Off-ramp number two would be the drug addict gets criminally arrested or cited and engages in a court diversion program like those offered to drunk drivers; if it works out, no criminal history.

Off-ramp number three would be traditional prosecution and probation. If the person successfully completes probation, he or she would qualify for automatic expungement.

Ultimately the three off ramps could lead to NO criminalization. Is the threat of no criminal record supposed to be the stick that incentivizes people to get into treatment?

How did Morgan Godvin’s criminal record for killing someone hurt her? She led off this legislative hearing and was given much time for her presentation. According to her website, she’s studying for admission to law school. Had she never gone to prison, would she even still be alive?

Study Barton’s three “off-ramps.” Even the DAs don’t support incarceration — one in particular: Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, who is running for re-election and will be participating in a panel discussion Thursday night on the movement to end mass incarceration. (Catch it at 7 p.m. at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry following the Portland premiere of “Beyond Bars: It’s a Movement, Not a Moment.”)

There was one invited speaker to the legislative hearing who clearly was opposed to Measure 110 and defended incarceration as an important tool.

“Jail and prison literally saved my life…,” said Dave Durocher who runs The Other Side Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I was making poor choices that landed me on the street and prison.”

At his academy, which he said is not government funded, the average student has been arrested 25 times. Durocher noted that drug addicts often suffer the same trauma as other people who don’t choose to use. We have normalized drug use in this country, he said, and we don’t hold people responsible.

“We are creating the problem that many of us pretend about solving…,” Durocher declared.

State Sen. Kate Lieber (D-Beaverton), co-chair of the committee, cut him off.

“You have gone off topic,” she said.

Only an hour was left to hear from citizens who weren’t specifically invited to speak. When Lieber opened up the hearing for “public comment,” she gave preference to elected officials who had signed up. First to go: Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.

Sitting in the audience was PDXReal’s Angela Todd, who has roughly 150,000 subscribers across four platforms. In advance of the hearing, she had urged listeners to write the committee, which may have contributed to the more than 200 pieces of written testimony. She was not called on.

(Here’s a link to the four-hour meeting if you want to listen to it.

There were two constructive suggestions made during the hearing.

Committee member state Rep. Kevin Mannix (R-Salem) pointed out that the Dome Building, across the street from the Oregon State Hospital, is an empty, state-owned 67,000-square foot property that has everything needed in terms of heat, lighting, and plumbing to serve as a facility for drug addicts and the mentally ill. Why not put it to good use?

Keith Wilson of Titan Freight accompanied a legislative group on a trip to Portugal to see how they managed to handle drug addiction with their liberal laws. He noted that Portuguese police will confiscate drugs from someone who is publicly using. Wilson suggested the Oregon legislature change the law so police can more easily confiscate drugs from people openly using.

It seems reasonable, but such a law could collide head-on with efforts in Portland to create a police oversight board dominated by people who have been “over-policed” (in other words, suspected troublemakers).

Just five hours after the end of the dope committee’s legislative hearing, Portland city attorneys, city council staff and activists from the Police Accountability Commission met to continue haggling about how much power the new citizen board should have. These citizens will be the final arbiter of police discipline and can even fire officers.

Among the grounds for citizen complaints of officers are “courtesy violations.”

Should the state legislature tinker with the laws so police can confiscate drugs from public users, don’t be surprised if Portland addicts swamp the city with complaints of officers being “discourteous.”

Think how disrespected Morgan Godvin would’ve felt had the cops taken her dope.