New stories suggesting that new west-coast legal approaches failing in face of scourge of fentanyl

A couple of notable press pieces this morning highlight data and developments indicating that the harms of the fentanyl crisis are growing in two notable jurisdictions that have been pursuing less punitive approaches to drug policy.  First, news from Oregon:

“In downtown Portland’s fentanyl crisis, Oregon leaders declare emergency”  Snippets:

Multnomah County, the city of Portland and the state of Oregon are embarking on a 90-day experiment to address downtown Portland’s fentanyl crisis. Tuesday, the three governments jointly declared a fentanyl emergency, directing their agencies to work alongside each other on programs that connect people addicted to the synthetic opioid with treatment programs and to crack down on drug sales….

The declaration comes years after fentanyl rooted itself in the region, spurring deaths, addiction and violent crime. According to Multnomah County, the number of overdose fatalities involving fentanyl increased 533% between 2018 and 2022 in the county. The region has also experienced a serious shortage of substance use treatment providers and recovery centers — despite the 2020 passage of a ballot measure meant to fund new drug treatment programs across Oregon. Measure 110 also decriminalized small amounts of illicit drugs, an aspect that state lawmakers are aiming to renegotiate in this year’s legislative session, which begins next week….

Max Williams, the former state lawmaker who also previously led the Oregon Corrections Department, issued a statement saying the emergency was a good start. “But a permanent fix to Measure 110 is necessary,” he said, citing the 2020 drug decriminalization measure. Williams, with the Coalition to Fix & Improve Measure 110, which is considering a ballot measure this fall, said the state “needs to recriminalize possession of fentanyl and other hard drugs as a Class A misdemeanor to help save lives and rescue communities.”

Second, the New York Times has this lengthy new piece exploring reasons why San Francisco has not been able to replicate the success that Portugal has seen with less punitive drug policies. This piece’s full headline reads: “Can San Francisco Solve Its Drug Crisis? Five Things to Consider. A comparison with Portugal’s approach to decriminalization shows why many liberal cities have struggled to match its success.”  I highly recommend this piece in full, and here is its start:

San Francisco is in the middle of a drug crisis.  Overdose deaths reached a record high last year, topping 800.  Public drug use is widespread in some neighborhoods.  How did San Francisco get to this point? In part, it follows the national story: The rise of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, and a destabilizing pandemic caused a spike in addiction and overdose deaths.

But San Francisco’s drug crisis has outpaced the country’s. In 2014, the city’s overdose death rate was roughly in line with the national average. As of last year, its rate was more than double the national average, and San Francisco was No. 4 for overdose deaths among U.S. counties with more than 500,000 people. The country’s overdose crisis worsened over the past decade as fentanyl spread, but San Francisco’s worsened much more quickly.

Local policy changes are partly to blame, some experts say. In 2014, California voters passed Prop 47, reducing drug possession to a misdemeanor from a felony.  Different parts of the state have interpreted the change differently.  In San Francisco, law enforcement has responded by scaling back efforts against drugs, de-emphasizing incarceration and effectively allowing public drug use.

Those who support at least partial decriminalization often cite the experience of Portugal, which decriminalized all drugs more than two decades ago and then saw a decline in drug-related problems.  In 2019, the San Francisco district attorney at the time, George Gascón, even visited Portugal to learn more.  But while San Francisco and other liberal cities have embraced some aspects of Portugal’s decriminalization laws, they have struggled to replicate Portugal’s success.

The comparison with Portugal is not perfect. For one, fentanyl has not taken over Portuguese drug markets, and has a relatively small presence in Europe as a whole.  Still, the comparison gives a way to think about the challenges that San Francisco and other cities have faced.  Those challenges can be broken down into five parts, each touching on a different aspect of drug policy.