Drug Decriminalization Not At Fault for Rise in Overdose Deaths: Study

Drug decriminalization efforts in Oregon and Washington did not contribute to the sharp rise in overdose deaths in the two states, a study suggests.

The two Pacific Northwest states saw the biggest increases in overdose deaths in the country, according to the most recent overdose death data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, with a 23.34% increase for Oregon and a 34.31% increase for Washington,  

Both states had recently enacted measures to decriminalize the use of certain drugs; Measure 110 in Oregon removed punishments like jail time and reclassified cases concerning possession of small amounts of drugs as misdemeanors rather than felonies.

Laws in Washington have also changed to reclassify drug possession as a misdemeanor, as well as requiring officers to refer someone to treatment at least twice before they can make an arrest.

Some have blamed these decriminalization measures for crises being faced by Seattle and Portland, the states’ largest cities.However, researchers from New York University instead say that lax drug laws did not have an effect.

Using CDC data, the researchers analyzed overdose deaths one year after Oregon and Washington’s decriminalization numbers were implemented, and compared this data to states that had a similar number of overdose deaths to Oregon and Washington before these decriminalization measures, respectively. 

For their research, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, Oregon’s drug overdose death rate was compared to 13 other states, while Washington was judged against 18 others.

They found that there was no significant difference in overdose deaths between Oregon and Washington one year after decriminalization and the other states. This finding persisted even after adding another seven months of early-stage data.

Additionally, while there wasn’t a significant increase in overdose deaths, there wasn’t a significant decrease in overdose deaths either, which was the goal of both measures. 

“To be clear, fatal overdoses are up in Oregon, but they’re also up everywhere,” the study’s senior investigator, Corey Davis, JD, MSPH, told the Portland Mercury. “We basically found nothing... in general, you want to publish research where you found something, but I think in this context, that’s actually really helpful.”

This group previously conducted a study that found that these decriminalization measures were followed by a “dramatic” reduction in the amount of drug-related arrests, and did not cause an increase in arrests for violent crimes.

“These two studies show that drug decriminalization measures in Oregon and Washington reduced arrests and did not increase overdose deaths. Taken together, these findings signal reduced harm to people who use drugs and possibly their communities as well,” Davis Esq. said in a press release.