A few weeks ago, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, Ted Wheeler, made a stand on open-air drug abuse in the city. He had had enough — it was time for action! Wheeler announced he would force the city council to vote on an ordinance banning the consumption of illicit substances — including fentanyl — on Portland’s blighted streets. Finally, Portland was ready to fight back.
Wheeler withdrew his proposal five days later without a vote.
Of course, Wheeler’s office claimed he withdrew the proposed ordinance due to a state bill forwarded to the desk of Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek that would have accomplished the same goals.
Then again, the threat of lawsuits and running afoul of existing state law may also have had something to do with it.
The proposed ordinance would have updated city code to include “consumption of a controlled substance” to its existing ban on public consumption of alcohol. By banning consumption, and not possession, Wheeler had hoped his proposal would not face a challenge under Measure 110, the statewide constitutional amendment passed in 2021 that decriminalized the possession of illicit street drugs such as cocaine, meth, and fentanyl.
The not-so-shocking result of Measure 110 has been that overdoses, rates of addiction, and mental health crises have skyrocketed, while the intended incentives in the measure for users to seek treatment have gone virtually completely ignored.
Patrick Fletchall recently wrote a great breakdown of the results of Measure 110 in The Federalist. He notes Wheeler’s history
