Oregon Passes Bill to Re-criminalize Drug Use

In the midst of a spiraling drug addiction and overdose crisis, lawmakers vote to end Oregon’s experiment with legalizing hard drugs.

A man from Washington state uses marijuana laced with fentanyl in front of his tent in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, on Feb. 23, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Oregon lawmakers have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make possession of certain drugs a misdemeanor in the state, effectively re-criminalizing such substances as fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.

The decision upends a three-year experiment in which Oregon became the first state in the nation to decriminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs.