WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — Come September there will be big changes to rules around drug use in Oregon. That’s when possession of small amounts of hard drugs, such as fentanyl, will become a crime again.
In many counties, people will have the option of treatment instead of jail time through local deflection programs, encouraged under the new law. Washington County on Wednesday released their preliminary plans for what that program will look like.
The county’s deflection team started creating the program back in April when Governor Tina Kotek signed House Bill 4002, starting a countdown before possession of small amounts of street drugs becomes a crime again in Oregon and giving counties millions of dollars to expand recovery services that would become alternatives to criminal punishment.
“Right now, what we’ve been focused on is really sketching out some of the details of our deflection program,” said Joe Simich with the Washington County deflection team. “The goal will be to evaluate them and get them into treatment so we can deflect any pending charges.”
According to county officials, this program will be human-centered, trauma-informed and culturally responsive, meeting people where they are — offering a path to healing and improved quality of life.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office will also play a role. Details around their involvement are still in the works. The county said that when officers come across someone using drugs they will refer them to a county deflection team.
“I think the wheels are turning and my understanding is that they have a program that’s in progress, but I don’t think they’ve fine-tuned all the details yet,” said David Huey, public information officer for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Creating a deflection program is not required under HB 4002, and the counties that do take part could differ in their approaches. Washington County officials told KGW they will have a plan in place come September and they expect it to evolve as time goes on.
“Our goal is not to impact local law enforcement and not to have them make a lot of decisions out on the road,” said Simich.
Importantly, the county said that it wants this program to operate completely within the funding provided by the state of Oregon. Washington County is expected to receive just over $1.3 million in two installments between late May and fall this year.