(The Center Square) – Oregon has used funds from Ballot Measure 110 to expand community-based treatment and recovery services for drug and alcohol abuse. However, the state faces challenges to fully implement these services and measure their results, a review released by the Oregon Audits Division this week found.
Passed three years ago to decriminalize small amounts of personal drug possession and to increase funding for drug treatment, Measure 110 has not stopped the drug epidemic in Oregon. Just 690 fentanyl pills were seized in Oregon and Idaho’s high-intensity drug trafficking area in 2018. However, that figure exceeded three million in 2022, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“Since it’s been implemented, the top question on everyone’s minds has been: Is Measure 110 working?” Audits Director Kip Memmott said. “It’s a complicated question to answer and much of the public conversation about Measure 110 is outside the scope of this review. We identified important progress being made, but it’s clear there is still much work to be done. We’ll be conducting another audit of Measure 110 where we plan to more directly assess program efficacy.”
Measure 110’s Oversight and Accountability Council provided $264 million in grants through December 2023 to 233 network service providers. OAC will dish out another $150 million through June 2025, using tax revenue from marijuana sales.
Some difficulties exist regarding the grant funding.
“In the first year of the grants — two-thirds of the way through the initial grant term — providers reported spending just over a third of grant funds amid difficulty hiring staff and other obstacles,” a release said. “It also remains unclear if OHA will have enough data to demonstrate Measure 110’s effectiveness by the end of 2025, five years after the measure passed.”
Here are some key findings from the report:
• The $260 million in grants has successfully helped expand community-based services and, despite some challenges, helped deliver accessible services to highly vulnerable people.
• The OAC prioritized cultural competence among grantees. This focus is likely to improve service access statewide and help address inequities in substance use treatment and outcomes.
• BHRN providers have increased spending and clients served, but the first year of reporting showed limited spending and services. During this time, there was difficulty hiring staff and other challenges, meaning some of Oregon’s 42 networks may not yet be providing all required services.
• It’s not clear how many providers of culturally specific services were funded to help serve populations most affected by the war on drugs, an important part of the measure. Auditors found the grant process needs improvement to better attract community-based applicants.
• OHA publishes BHRN spending and the number of clients served, but the agency could better demonstrate impact through additional reporting on staffing, services, and capital expenditures.
• OHA is developing a new system for collecting more detailed behavioral health service data, but it remains uncertain if the agency will have adequate data to demonstrate M110’s effectiveness.
Memmott said the report provides key information as the state adopts an unconventional approach in hopes of solving its drug abuse problem.
“Measure 110 has been a topic of intense interest and public scrutiny both here in Oregon and nationwide,” Memmott said. “It’s the reality of being the first state in the nation to adopt such a unique and unprecedented approach to substance abuse treatment. As it says in the report, collecting, assessing, and reporting key performance and outcome data is critical for determining if this unparalleled drug treatment approach is effective.”
You can read the full report here.
