Oregonians deciding whether to decriminalize small amounts of all illicit drugs in the November general election will see some new information in their voters pamphlet this fall: the potential impact to different racial and ethnic groups.
State lawmakers have had the option to request the analyses of how ballot measures and bills might change the involvement of people of color and white people with the criminal justice system since 2014.
But after seeking the Criminal Justice Commission analyses on “a handful” of bills in 2015, lawmakers stopped seeking the reports, according to the commission’s interim Executive Director Ken Sanchagrin. Until now, they have not requested a racial and ethnic impact analysis on a ballot measure.
Sen. Lew Frederick, a Portland Democrat, is one of the two lawmakers who requested the impact statement for Initiative Petition 44, which would also redirect most recreational marijuana tax revenue to pay for drug abuse treatment.
“Although it was available, people didn’t know about it,” Frederick said in an interview Thursday. Frederick, one of the chief sponsors of the 2013 law to create the process, said he could have done more to make lawmakers aware of the tool. The drug decriminalization campaign asked lawmakers to request the analysis and Frederick said he is glad they did so.
“It is the kind of (measure) that really needs to have that kind of attention given to it,” he said.
Under state law, a lawmaker from each major political party, effectively a Republican and a Democrat, must request the impact statement. Rep. Cheri Helt, a Republican from Bend, worked with Frederick on the request.
“When we’re voting on measures, I believe it’s very important that we are as informed as possible and this is a really important lens that we need to be looking through when we’re making decisions on policy,” Helt said.
The draft racial and ethnic impact statement prepared by the Criminal Justice Commission suggests there would be a significant decrease in misdemeanor and felony drug possession convictions across demographic groups, if voters decide to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all drugs. Total convictions for Asian Oregonians could fall by 82.9%, for Latinos by 86.5%, for whites by 91.1%, for Blacks by 93.7% and for Native Americans by 94.2%.
White people account for around 75% of the state’s population according to the U.S. Census and had by far the most misdemeanor and felony drug possession convictions in figures from the state Criminal Justice Commission, roughly 82%. With decriminalization, whites could drop down to 78.3% of total drug possession convictions. Black people, who are 2.2% of the state’s population according to the U.S. Census estimate, had 4.6% of drug possession convictions in 2019. The Criminal Justice Commission predicted that would decrease to 3.2% if voters decriminalize possession of small amounts of all drugs.
In a public hearing on the draft impact statement Thursday afternoon, supporters of the ballot initiative pressed for the Criminal Justice Commission to add information about arrest rates and other impacts to people taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession.
“Most important are the disparities in arrest,” said Anthony Johnson, a chief petitioner on the initiative. He said there were nearly 9,000 arrests in Oregon in 2018 for which drug possession was the most serious alleged offense.
Bobby Byrd, an organizer with the campaign, said the impact statement needs to be expanded to more fully capture the potential impact of decriminalization, including on the type of racial profiling by law enforcement that he has experienced that as a Black man. “I’ve been pulled over more in one month than the majority of you guys have been pulled over in your lives,” Byrd said.
Oregon’s former U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall also spoke at the hearing about her personal experiences with substance abuse and how she and her family benefitted from being white. Marshall said she grew up in a family with addiction issues and used cocaine in her early teens, which she said was “a story most of you don’t know” because she wanted to be a lawyer and believed that sharing her drug use could jeopardize that.
Marshall stepped down in 2015 when she came under review by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General after reportedly behaving erratically toward a subordinate. Marshall said Thursday that she secured inpatient treatment in another state for post traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. “I’m still an addict,” Marshall said, even though “I haven’t had a drink or a drug in almost 5 1/2 years.”
More recently, Marshall said she saw how race and financial resources can lead to different outcomes when her son and his best friend, who she said is Black, broke into their high school and damaged property while drunk and high. “The difference in outcomes was stark,” she said. Marshall said her son’s friend was quickly expelled, while her son went to a treatment program in California and then returned to school.
Marshall said that decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs “takes away the police ability to racially profile people.”