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<\/p>\nIn prison six years later, Gullickson was contemplating joining an intensive recovery program when a \u201cstriking, magnetic gorgeous Black woman walked in the room, held up a mug shot and started talking about being in the very chairs where we were sitting,\u201d Gullickson remembers. There was life on the other side of addiction and prison, the woman said. But you have to fight for it. Gullickson believed her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember thinking, I may not be able to do all that, be what she was, but maybe I could do something different than this,\u201d Gullickson says. \u201cThat day, I felt the door open to change and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Gullickson, executive director of the Mental Health &\u00a0Addiction Association of Oregon, is determined to give other addicts the same opportunity. That\u2019s why she pushed for the passage of Measure 110,\u00a0first-of-its-kind legislation that decriminalizes the possession of all illegal drugs in Oregon,<\/a> including heroin, cocaine, meth and oxycodone. Instead of a criminal-justice-based approach, the state will pivot to a health-care-based approach, offering addicts treatment instead of prison time. Those in possession will be fined $100, a citation that will be dropped if they agree to a\u00a0health assessment.<\/p>\n The law goes into effect Monday and will be implemented over the next decade by the state officials at the Oregon Health Authority.<\/p>\n Advocates say the pivot will be life-changing for thousands of Oregonians.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things people misunderstand is how criminalization creates barriers to treatment,\u201d says Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit dedicated to legalizing\u00a0illicit drug use. \u201cIf we want people to make different choices, we have to give them more options … ending criminalization will do leaps and bounds around ending shame, which automatically opens people up for other opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Nationally, others are hopeful this could be the first in a wave of progressive measures that undo years of damage caused by drug criminalization, which disproportionately imprisoned people of color across the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that we all become more enlightened across this country that substance abuse is not something that necessitates incarceration, but speaks to other social ills \u2013 lack of health care, lack of treatment, things of that nature,\u201d says Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., an outspoken critic of the War on Drugs. \u201cIf you\u2019re white and wealthy, you get an opportunity to get a break, go home to your family and go into some kind of health care environment.\u201d<\/p>\n But it’s often different for people of color, Watson Coleman says. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, prosecutors are \u201ctwice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for Black people as for white people charged with the same offense.\u201d And many people of color do time for possession alone: In 2016, there were more than 1.5 million drug arrests. More than 80% were for possession only.<\/p>\n Watson Coleman also points out that it\u2019s far more expensive to pay to incarcerate someone than get\u00a0them treatment. Rehab programs not only empower people, she says, but they also save communities money.<\/p>\n In early 2020, the Oregon Health Authority announced a 10-year plan to limit health inequities across the state. Measure 110 will be a crucial step in that fight, says Steve Allen, the behavioral health director at the authority OHA.<\/p>\n Helping addicts fight addiction means more than just straight drug rehab, he says \u2013\u00a0addiction is rarely an isolated event, as people struggling with it are typically juggling other crises\u00a0including mental illness, physical or dental health care issues, and homelessness. Too many people spend too much of their lives cycling in and out of jails and emergency departments, Allen says, instead of getting the wraparound services they need. A move to take care of the whole individual will pay huge dividends.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we know is that punishment for addiction doesn\u2019t work, and doesn\u2019t improve outcomes for people,\u201d Allen says. He points out that the law is going into effect at a critical time: Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in spring 2020, overdoses in Oregon have skyrocketed by 70%.<\/p>\n The program will be paid for by redistributing existing marijuana dollars that come from the state\u2019s cannabis tax, which Allen calls \u201ca huge advantage\u201d because it likely won\u2019t be dependent on whims of the local economy (marijuana funds have gone up recently, he noted).<\/p>\n Gullickson, who has\u00a0been sober since 2008 after a few detours, already sees a shift nationally in the conversation around addiction.<\/p>\n She points to the October 2020 presidential debate, when then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden said, \u201cNo one should be going to jail because they have a drug problem\u201d and expressed support for drug diversion programs. Having Biden in the White House now \u201cmakes a huge difference\u201d Gullickson\u00a0says.<\/p>\n Frederique at the Drug Policy Alliance agrees and says the Biden administration\u2019s promise to bring science back to the White House will play an important role going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to ground our policies in science instead of stigma and punishment,”\u00a0Frederique says.<\/p>\n Undoing Trump’s policies:<\/strong>What Biden did in his first week as president<\/a><\/p>\n In 2018, as the House studied and voted on bills aimed at helping solve America\u2019s opioid crisis, Watson Coleman introduced her own legislation that\u00a0called for Congress to formally apologize<\/a>\u00a0for the war\u00a0on drugs and acknowledge the damage it had done to communities of color. It also called for future drug policy to be ground in \u201cevidence-based health care solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n The war on drugs, Watson Coleman says, \u201cwas used as a weapon, as a tool to disrupt our communities. Particularly during the (Richard) Nixon era, it was a disguise to break up and weaken our communities \u2026 it wasn\u2019t a war on drugs, it was a war on poor brown and Black men and women, and it did terrible things to families for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n But she’s optimistic change is coming. So is Gullickson, who’s committed to helping in any and every way she can.<\/p>\n Now married and a grandmother of 17 \u2013\u00a0she\u2019s slowly rebuilt relationships with almost all her children \u2013\u00a0Gullickson shares her story and all its warts\u00a0because she wants others to know no matter how ugly or decimated their lives are now,\u00a0something different is waiting for them.<\/p>\n She believes legislation like Measure 110 will create an environment where \u201cinstead of being somewhere accidentally and hoping someone will walk in and give you hope, we\u2019re doing that proactively.\u201d She knows it\u2019ll take time to fully implement and there will be issues along the way. She also knows if it works, it could be implemented in other places and millions of other people like her, who once felt hopeless, alone and isolated could find something else, something good to live for.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we do this right in Oregon, I think there\u2019s a will to do it everywhere,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a huge responsibility to show that this is the right thing, and it can work.\u201d<\/p>\n ___ Oregon law to decriminalize all drugs goes into effect, offering addicts rehab instead of prison Lindsay Schnell USA TODAY PORTLAND, Ore. \u2013\u00a0For Janie Gullickson, rock bottom came both slowly and all at once. A longtime drug and alcohol addict, Gullickson … Continue reading ![\"Rep.](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/da431bce41f2b6dedd985a5480f6e47fe87fbb8d\/c=0-18-639-379\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/01\/30\/USATODAY\/USATODAY\/636529190458954580-CBCphoto.JPG?width=639&height=361&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/p>\nAdvocates hope other states will follow<\/h2>\n
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\nhttps:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2021\/02\/01\/oregon-decriminalizes-all-drugs-offers-treatment-instead-jail-time\/4311046001\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"