Oregon’s Drug Decriminalization Aimed To Make Cops A Gateway To Rehab, Not Jail: State Leaders Failed To Make It Work

By Tony Schick and Conrad Wilson, Oregon Public Broadcasting

(ProPublica) — It’s a scene police say plays out all too frequently in downtown Portland.

An officer hands someone a $100 ticket for possessing the deadly narcotic fentanyl and a card with a treatment hotline number. Call this number, the officer says, and...