Politics
Oregon Drug Decriminalization Has Dramatically Reduced Arrests And Increased Harm Reduction Access One Year After Enactment, Report Shows
To date, over 16,000 Oregon residents have already accessed services funded by Measure 110.
By Alexander Lekhtman, Filter
February 1 marks the one-year anniversary since Measure 110 took effect in Oregon, decriminalizing low-level drug possession and increasing funding for harm reduction, substance use disorder treatment and other key services.
According to information shared with Filter by the Drug Policy Alliance, there were 60 percent fewer total drug arrests in state over the 10 months after February 1, 2021, compared with the same period the previous year. That 2020 period saw 9,100 drug arrests in total—meaning a reduction of almost 5,500 arrests. However, the data do not yet show the extent to which this decline was attributable to Measure 110.
Last year, Oregon’s effort (via #Measure110) to decriminalize drugs & invest in health alternatives took effect.
Here is what happened over the year as told by @MyHarmReduction.
More: https://t.co/2j2fmxegGF pic.twitter.com/jHlJeb2672
— Drug Policy Alliance (@DrugPolicyOrg) February 1, 2022
Measure 110 also requires that a portion of cannabis tax revenue be put into a special fund to expand services for people who use drugs. Before the measure passed, Oregon ranked near the bottom of all U.S. states for access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.
Thanks to the measure, the state has already paid out over $31.4 million to providers of services including treatment, harm reduction, peer support, and housing and employment support. Gov. Kate Brown (D) had initially wanted to delay payments until July 2022, but advocates told Filter that they successfully fought to get this money paid out early, helping to keep critical services running.
To date, over 16,000 Oregon residents have accessed services funded by Measure 110.
Via DPA.
In the meantime, the state has received, and has been reviewing, funding requests from providers all over Oregon. From mid-February, the state will be paying out another estimated $302 million to help every county create a “behavioral health resource network.” This should entail a coordinated, one-stop system where each county’s service providers will work together to make it as easy as possible for people to get the care they need.
“A person could call one of the numbers, they could get hold of a ‘[service] navigator,’” Monta Knudson, CEO of Oregon treatment and housing provider Bridges to Change, told Filter of this system. “That navigator could send a peer recovery mentor to pick them up, to get them to an assessment site and figure out what it is they’re asking for and what they need, and they do all the background work.”
Establishing these systems will be the focus of much work in 2022. But to date, over 16,000 Oregon residents have already accessed services funded by Measure 110.
The largest portion—over 59 percent—have received harm reduction services, like sterile syringes, naloxone and associated training, or safe sex supplies. About 15 percent received assistance with housing needs. And many more received peer services or a clinical screening (11 percent each).
“We hired a full-time harm reduction specialist … it really transformed what we were able to do.”
Julia Pinsky, executive director of Max’s Mission, told Filter how her harm reduction program in southern Oregon has benefited from this funding.
“It allowed us to consistently serve people in three counties, to expand syringe exchange services, distribute a lot more naloxone, expand our opioid overdose [kits],” she said. “We hired a full-time harm reduction specialist, we have a peer support specialist, somebody else who helps with data and outreach … it really transformed what we were able to do.”
On the other hand, less than 1 percent of the people who accessed SUD treatment in Oregon during the 10-month period did so with Measure 110 funding. A reason for this, explained Tera Hurst, executive director of the Health Justice Recovery Alliance, is that Measure 110 is supporting many other services besides SUD treatment.
Medicaid already helped cover services like residential and out-patient programs, and medications like buprenorphine and methadone. But treatment providers have not had nearly enough capacity to meet everyone’s needs. Measure 110 is supposed to give them the money to expand. But it’s also funding many things Medicaid never fully covered and still doesn’t.
“It’s paying for the broader continuum of treatment needs, but not necessarily something that would be billable by Medicaid or insurance,” Hurst told Filter. “This is meant to be investing in services that haven’t been invested in before, and it will cover treatment costs if someone is ineligible for Medicaid or a health plan.”
Housing is another particularly important need that Measure 110 is helping to address. “Not everyone’s going to get into residential treatment and not everyone needs residential treatment,” Hurst said. “Some people actually have better outcomes if you’re able to house them in their community and offer these ‘wraparound’ services.”
If passed, the bill would divert $15 million from the SUD treatment fund each quarter, redirecting it to Oregon State Police.
Hurst acknowledged Oregon’s huge task of setting up the behavioral health resource network in 2022. But advocates like her are also on the defensive—already, state lawmakers are making plans to take money allocated for expanding services and spend it instead on more police.
Sen. Tim Knopp (R) is sponsoring Senate Bill 1541, as an attempt to give law enforcement more money to combat illicit cannabis cultivation in the state. If passed, Hurst explained, the bill would divert $15 million from the SUD treatment fund each quarter, redirecting it to Oregon State Police. It wouldn’t be the first time cannabis tax money has been used in this way.
Challenges and battles remain, therefore. But thousands of people in Oregon, whether receiving services or avoiding arrest, have already felt benefits from Measure 110. And with major funding soon to be rolled out, many more positive impacts are expected in 2022.
This article was originally published by Filter, an online magazine covering drug use, drug policy and human rights through a harm reduction lens. Follow Filter on Facebook or Twitter, or sign up for its newsletter.
Federal Appeals Court Dismisses Cancer Patients’ Case To Use Psilocybin Under Right-To-Try Laws
Politics
Key Pennsylvania Senate Committee Completes Final Marijuana Legalization Hearing To Inform Reform Legislation
A key Pennsylvania Senate committee on Monday held the last of three scheduled hearings on marijuana legalization, taking testimony that’s designed to help inform a forthcoming reform bill that the panel’s chairman is actively drafting.
The Senate Law and Justice Committee meeting involved testimony from cannabis reform advocates, former regulators from other states and industry stakeholders.
Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs the panel, circulated a cosponsorship memo last year along with Rep. Amen Brown (D) to build support for the reform, and these meetings are designed to give lawmakers added context into the best approach to legalization for the state.
“Legalization of adult-use marijuana is a complex and obviously controversial issue,” Regan said at the end of Monday’s discussion. “We are grateful for the many perspectives, personal experiences and opinions we have received. To all my colleagues on the committee, thank you for your continued participation. I look forward to working together on this important issue for Pennsylvania.”
At an initial hearing last month, much of the discussion focused on whether creating a regulated market would be sufficient to eliminate illicit sales, how police would be affected and the impact on impaired driving.
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The second hearing held late last month centered on varying tax structures and other regulatory approaches that have been created in states like Illinois and California.
While reform bills have been introduced in past sessions and the policy change has the support of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), this latest hearing marks only the third time a legislative panel has debated recreational legalization in the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania General Assembly.
JM Pedini, development director of NORML and executive director of Virginia NORML, spoke about regulatory models and said that in their capacity as a member of the Virginia Governor’s Marijuana Task Force, “one of our principle tasks was recommending the form and function of the new regulatory structure.”
“I can tell you, having examined this issue in many jurisdictions, the best model is one that utilizes a single, cannabis dedicated regulator,” they said, responding to the idea that the existing medical marijuana program and a new adult-use one could instead be controlled by differing regulatory bodies. “This was the recommendation we made in Virginia based on an examination of best practices in several jurisdictions. And based on that experience, I can confirm that Pennsylvania’s program exhibits the challenges presented when a cannabis regulator is cast into an existing department.”
These Pennsylvania hearings have provided a broad overview of the experiences in out-of-state markets, rather than specific legislative proposals like a bipartisan measure introduced last year by Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D).
Those senators also recently filed introduced a bill that would allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own plants for personal use. Street had attempted to get the reform enacted as an amendment to an omnibus bill this summer, but it did not advance.
Meanwhile, Street is behind another recent cannabis measure to provide state-level protections to banks and insurers that work with cannabis businesses.
In the interim, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running for U.S. Senate this year, said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment through an expedited petition program.
Pennsylvania lawmakers could also take up more modest marijuana reform proposals like a bill filed late last year to expand the number of medical marijuana cultivators in the state, prioritizing small farms to break up what she characterized as a monopoly or large corporations that’s created supply problems.
Additionally, another pair of state lawmakers—Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)—formally unveiled a legalization bill they’re proposing last year.
Philadelphia voters also approved a referendum on marijuana legalization in November that adds a section to the city charter saying that “the citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to pass legislation that will decriminalize, regulate, and tax the use, and sale to adults aged 21 years or older, of cannabis for non-medical purposes.”
Wolf, the governor, said last year that marijuana legalization was a priority as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn’t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.
The governor, who signed a medical cannabis expansion bill in June, has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform since coming out in favor of the policy in 2019. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to legalize marijuana through a state-run model.
A survey from Franklin & Marshall College released last year found that 60 percent of Pennsylvania voters back adult-use legalization. That’s the highest level of support for the issue since the firm started polling people about it in 2006.
An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature last year, apparently due to pushback by the state police association.
Connecticut Lawmakers Discuss Bill To Fund Psilocybin And MDMA Therapy
Photo courtesy of Martin Alonso.
A Connecticut legislative committee on Monday discussed a bill that would set the state up to provide certain patients with access to psychedelic-assisted treatment with substances like MDMA and psilocybin. Former top military officials, advocates and scientists testified in favor of the proposal.
The joint Public Health Committee took oral and written testimony on HB 5396, which would create a psychedelic treatment centers in the state, pending approval of the substances by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under its expanded access program for investigational new drugs.
The bill would not legalize the psychedelics; rather, it would set up regulatory infrastructure to enable Connecticut to play a leading role in providing access to this alternative treatment option as federal agencies continue to fund and facilitate clinical trials.
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Psychedelic therapy would be specifically provided and funded for military veterans, retired first responders, health care workers and any person from a “historically underserved community, and who has a serious or life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorder and without access to effective mental or behavioral health medication.”
“I firmly believe that we have a duty, responsibility and, more than ever, an urgency to help…all those suffering from trauma to heal and move forward as productive members of our society,” retired Marine Lt. Gen Martin Steele said at the hearing. “I also believe we have failed to do so for a very long time. Reversing these trends require bold but thoughtful and strategic action.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed a bill last year that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms. A workgroup has since been meeting to investigate the issue.
The new legislation would require the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to launch a “psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program to provide qualified patients with the funding” to receive MDMA- or psilocybin-assisted therapy as part of FDA’s expanded access program, the text of the bill states.
The pilot program would cease “when MDMA and psilocybin have been approved to have a medical use by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), or any successor agency.” At that point, state statute on the substances would be aligned with the federal government’s.
In the interim, the bill would further establish a Qualified Patients for Approved Treatment Sites Fund (PAT Fund) to provide “grants to qualified applicants to provide MDMA-assisted or psilocybin assisted therapy to qualified patients under the pilot program.”
“Approved treatment sites shall collect and submit data to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, including, but not limited to, its protocols for the provision of MDMA-assisted and psilocybin-assisted treatment, training on the facilitation of such treatment, implementation of facility standards, strategies for patient protection and mitigation of drug diversion.”
The bill would further create a Connecticut Psychedelic Treatment Advisory Board under the department. Legislative leaders and the governor would be empowered to appoint members of the board.
“The guiding rule here is: Let’s get the right treatment for the right patient at the right time,” Stephen Xenakis, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, said at the hearing. “We need to have a broad array of services available—and now we have the capability to do that with the developments that have come in understanding the benefits that comes from MDMA and psilocybin and other such agents.”
The board would be tasked with making recommendation on the “design and development of the regulations and infrastructure necessary to safely allow for therapeutic access to psychedelic-assisted therapy upon the legalization of MDMA, psilocybin and any other psychedelic compounds.”
There would be seven key areas that the board would be responsible for advising the department on:
- Reviewing and considering the data from the psychedelic-assisted therapy pilot program…to inform the development of such regulations
- Advising the department on the necessary education, training, licensing and credentialing of therapists and facilitators, patient safety, harm reduction, the establishment of equity measures in both clinical and therapeutic settings, cost and insurance reimbursement considerations and standards of treatment facilities
- Advising the department on the use of group therapy and other therapy options to reduce cost and maximize public health benefits from psychedelic treatments
- Monitoring updated federal regulations and guidelines for referral and consideration by the state agencies of cognizance for implementation of such regulations and guidelines.
- Developing a long-term strategic plan to improve mental health care through the use of psychedelic treatment.
- Recommending equity measures for clinical subject recruitment and facilitator training recruitment
- Assisting with the development of public awareness and education campaigns.
Former state Rep. Jesse MacLachlan (R), who now works at the advocacy group Reason For Hope, testified in favor of the legislation. He emphasized the need to “build a bridge of information, of infrastructure, and of more real world application of what this treatment looks like outside of the clinical trial.”
He said Connecticut needs “to be ready for when the FDA does approve MDMA in 2023 and psilocybin in 2024 because, when that happens and these therapies begin to enter the mainstream, there will be a there will be a deluge of patient intake.”
“Yes, we need more federal testing. Yes, we need a lot more information before it becomes something that is widely used,” Public Health Committee Co-chairman Jonathan Steinberg (D) said at the hearing. “But even then, we’re talking about a very narrow context. When I say ‘widely,’ it’s still a very small group of individuals for whom this would be an appropriate therapy, but only by our willingness to push the bounds are we going to find these kinds of options for people.”
Thomas Burr of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Connecticut said in written testimony that, “for too long Connecticut has seemingly been stuck with the standard treatment methods around mental health conditions, with correspondingly lackluster results.”
“We feel that it is far past time to study different, perhaps even unorthodox treatments, that show great promise,” Burr said.
Lynnette Averill of Baylor College of Medicine said in written testimony that the bill would allow Connecticut to “jump start their infrastructure building as MDMA and psilocybin both have a breakthrough therapy indication from the FDA and are expected to obtain approval within the next 2 years.”
It also “allows for [Connecticut] residents to perhaps receive urgently needed care who would otherwise be excluded. For example, many clinical trials exclude ‘complex’ patients as the psychiatric and medical co-morbidities, the medications, the chaotic lifestyles, etc. can ‘muddy’ the data some,” she said. “However, these people are in desperate need of effective interventions and this program would support these individuals in receiving care (of course, when screened and determined to be safe and appropriate to engage in the treatment).”
Also in Connecticut, regulators announced in January that they would start accepting certain marijuana business license applications at the beginning of February.
The news follows a meeting of the state’s Social Equity Council (SEC), where members approved a technical assistance plan for the cannabis industry that will involve outreach and providing resources to people interested in participating in the market. That plan’s finalization was a necessary condition to trigger the start of the licensing process under the legalization law signed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) last year.
SEC met for the first time in March, just weeks after Lamont signed a marijuana legalization bill into law.
Among other agenda items, the 15-person group approved a list of geographic areas disproportionately impacted by the drug war, which will be used to determine eligibility for social equity business licenses. Under the state’s new cannabis law, half of all licenses must go to equity applicants, who may also qualify for lower licensing fees, technical assistance, workforce training and funding to cover startup costs.
Over the summer, Lamont also announced the launch of a new website to provide residents with up-to-date information on the state’s new marijuana legalization law.
As it stands, adults 21 and older are already able to possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis for personal use.
In the psychedelics space, reform is advancing in states across the country.
For example, the Washington State legislature last week sent a budget bill to the governor’s desk that includes a proposal to direct $200,000 in funding to support a new workgroup to study the possibility of legalizing psilocybin services in the state, including the idea of using current marijuana regulatory systems to track psychedelic mushrooms.
A bipartisan coalition of Georgia lawmakers recently filed a resolution that calls for the formation of a House study committee to investigate the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and make recommendations for reforms.
Last week, the Hawaii Senate approved a bill to set up a state working group to study the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin mushrooms and develop a “long-term” plan to ensure that the psychedelic is accessible for medical use for adults 21 and older.
Also last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill this week to decriminalize low-level possession of psilocybin and promote research into the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.
Rhode Island lawmakers introduced a pair of drug decriminalization bills this month—including one focused on psilocybin and buprenorphine that would authorize doctors to prescribe the psychedelic mushroom.
Also this month, a Missouri Republican lawmaker filed a bill that would legalize a wide range of psychedelics for therapeutic use at designated care facilities while further decriminalizing low-level possession in general.
Last month, Utah lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would create a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs and possible regulations for their lawful use.
An Oregon Senate committee also recently advanced a bill to ensure that equity is built into the state’s historic therapeutic psilocybin program that’s actively being implemented following voter approval in 2020.
A group of Maryland senators recently filed a bill that would create a state fund that could be used to provide free access to psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while also supporting research into their therapeutic potential.
A bill to decriminalize a wide array of psychedelics in Virginia was taken up by a House of Delegates panel in January, only to be pushed off until 2023. A separate Senate proposal to decriminalize psilocybin alone was later defeated in a key committee.
California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to legalize psychedelics possession stands a 50/50 chance of reaching the governor’s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.
Washington State lawmakers also introduced legislation in January that would legalize what the bill calls “supported psilocybin experiences” by adults 21 and older.
New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs.
Legislation was also enacted by the Texas legislature last year requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.
Colorado officials last week approved the language of two more psychedelics reform initiatives from the same campaign that already passed that procedural step for two separate measures it submitted late last year. A competing campaign filed a different psychedelics legalization last month.
Michigan activists filed a statewide ballot initiative last month that would legalize possessing, cultivating and sharing psychedelics and set up a system for their therapeutic and spiritual use.
A pair of Michigan senators also introduced a bill in September to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of an array of plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.
At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last month, urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.
Politics
VA Won’t Provide Grants For Marijuana Treatment As Part Of Proposed Veteran Suicide Prevention Initiative
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making clear it won’t provide support for treatment involving marijuana as part of a new grants program aimed at preventing veteran suicide
In a notice on a proposed interim final rule for the new Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program published in the Federal Register on Thursday, VA said the three-year, community-based effort will “provide or coordinate the provision of suicide prevention services to eligible individuals and their families for the purpose of reducing veteran suicide.”
But while many veterans and service organizations representing the community have repeatedly testified to Congress and federal agencies that cannabis represents a potential treatment option for medical conditions that commonly afflict military veterans returning from service, VA, perhaps not surprisingly, is drawing a line in the sand when it comes to supporting treatment regimens involving marijuana.
It’s “important for VA to note that any approaches and treatment practices approved will need to be consistent with applicable Federal law,” the department said in the notice. “For example, the use of grant funds to provide or coordinate the provision of marijuana to eligible individuals and their families will be prohibited, as marijuana is currently illegal under Federal law.”
That’s despite the fact that there is a carve out for prospective grantees providing or coordinating “nontraditional and innovative approaches…including but not limited to complementary or alternative interventions with some evidence for effectiveness of improving mental health or mitigating a risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behavior.”
The interim final rule is set to take effect on April 11, and public comments will continue to be accepted until May 9.
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Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
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VA’s position on marijuana has been a source of consistent frustration for advocates and veteran service organizations who have been pushing for expanded research into the therapeutic potential of cannabis.
House and Senate committees held joint hearings this month to hear from veterans service organizations (VSOs) about how Congress and the federal government can better serve their constituents, and several of the groups brought up the need to ease restrictions on marijuana.
The testimony echoes what the VSOs have repeatedly raised with lawmakers. The specifics ranged in scope between the various groups, but the overall message was made clear: military veterans uniquely stand to benefit from marijuana treatment and it’s time for Congress to do something about it.
Separately, military veterans would be “encouraged” to discuss medical marijuana treatment without the fear of losing federal benefits under a new bill being sponsored by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).
The main thrust of the legislation is to codify existing policies that allow VA doctors to talk about medical cannabis with patients as well as protections for veterans who are candid about their history with marijuana treatment. By doing so, it would enshrine these polices into law so that they could not later be changed administratively by future VA leaders.
Congressional Democrats Elevate Marijuana Equity Issues At Retreat Panel Focused On Legalization
