Why Oregon re-criminalized drugs

Video Description

The lesson isn’t that decriminalization can’t work. It’s that Portland-style governance is broken. https://reason.com/video/2025/10/01/how-oregons-drug-experiment-backfired/ --- Correction: 21:53 This piece originally misstated that Multnomah County's deflection numbers reflected those of the entire state of Oregon. In 2020, Oregon became the first state in America to decriminalize all drugs. Was it a catastrophic mistake? Has this famously progressive city been mugged by reality? Reason visited Portland and talked to drug users, politicians, and police to find out what actually happened and uncovered a very different story. Portland isn't waiting for any changes to state drug laws to try its own sort of decriminalization. But to better emulate Portugal, it needs to establish a clearer pathway off the streets and into shelter.  The circumstances that undermined the state's brief experiment with decriminalization have shifted in the city's favor. The fentanyl crisis is abating nationwide, overdoses and drug-related emergency calls are down, crime is falling, and the city's population just ticked back up. Portland can do more to clean up its public spaces and expand treatment, which would help to dispel the notion that decriminalization makes cities unlivable. The stakes are enormous. The half-century-long war on drugs has destroyed millions of lives. The lesson from Oregon and Portugal is that decriminalization can work, but only if you keep your city livable and safe for drug users and non-drug users alike. Photo Credits: Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA/Newscom; John Marshall Mantel/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Danita Delimont Photography/Newscom; DPST/Newscom; Steve Eberhardt/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Jason Ryan/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Jerry Holt/TNS/Newscom; Brooklynn Kascel/Polaris/Newscom; Carlos Gonzalez/TNS/Newscom; Chris Juhn/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Sait Serkan Gurbuz/ZUMA Press/Newscom; JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI/Newscom; Stanton Sharpe/ZUMA Press/Newscom; John Rudoff/Sipa USA/Newscom; Leslie Spurlock/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Imagespace/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Mark McKenna/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Michael Nigro/ZUMA Press/Newscom; John Lamparsk/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Stephanie Keith/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Tobias Nolan/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Robin Utrecht/ANP/Newscom; imageBROKER/Gerd Michael M�ller/Newscom; Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Katharine Kimball/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Frank Fell/robertharding/robertharding/Newscom; Luis Boza/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; ASSOCIATED PRESS; Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Newscom; Erik McGregor/Sipa USA/Newscom; Krista Kennell/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Eugene PD/MEGA / Newscom/GWGLA/Newscom; Polaris/Newscom; Drug Enforcement Administration/TNS/Newscom; Drug Enforcement Administration; JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI/Newscom; Justin Katigbak/Sipa USA/Newscom   Music Credits: "Life Must Have It's Mysteries" by Or Chausha via Artlist; "Dark Apoko" by Oren Alaloof via Artlist; "Velo" by Crazy Paris via Artlist; "Life of a Cube" by Max H via Artlist; "Lost and Found" by Theatre of Delays via Artlist; "Crystal Gaze" by Theatre of Delays via Artlist; "A Light in the Dark" by Raz Burg via Artlist; "Monochrome" by Theatre of Delays via Artlist; "Cosmos" by Theatre of Delays via Artlist; "Plastic Breath" by Tamuz Dekel via Artlist; "Machina" by Jameson Nathan Jones via Artlist; "Back to Silence" by Raz Burg via Artlist; "Exhalation" by Second Light via Artlist; "Crystal Clear" by Tiko Tiko via Artlist; "Naos" by Yotam Agam via Artlist; "The Shoulder Tap" by Tamuz Dekel via Artlist; "Dark Mysteries" by Nick Kelly via Artlist; "Aluminum" by Roie Shpigler via Artlist; "All of My Heart" by Bradbury Lane via Artlist; "The Siren" by Lia D'sau, Tom Meira Armony via Artlist; "See You Soon" by Bortex via Artlist; "Don't Waste This Touch" by Harbor Fate via Artlist; "Spiral" by Alon Peretz via Artlist; "Desolate" by Zac Nelson; "Inner Soul" by ARYEH via Artlist Protest Videos: Brendan Gutenschwager & Sergio Olmos Producer: Zach Weissmueller Video editor: Danielle Thompson Camera: Justin Zuckerman Graphics: Lex Villen and Adani Samat Director of Photography: Kevin Alexander