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Friday Fact: Oregon overdose deaths plummeted after drugs got recriminalized

Friday Fact: Oregon overdose deaths plummeted after drugs got recriminalized

A welcome development

By TDR StaffDecember 11, 20251 min read
Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield calls the House to order in the state capitol, June 25, 2023
With help from Rep. Andrea Valderrama's daughter House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, calls the House to order on June 25, 2023. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)

Per new CDC data, drug overdose deaths decreased by 26% in Oregon between the 12-month periods ending April 2024 and April 2025—the period during which the state’s Measure 110, a 2020 law that decriminalized all drugs, was largely repealed. This is incredible news, especially in light of the deadly drug crisis that had plagued Oregon for years. Measure 110 may have been well-intentioned but it was an utter disaster in execution, with zero social backstop to help people recover from addiction and only voluntary treatment offers that virtually no one took up. Let’s hope Oregon and America learn from this debacle—just like the heavily libertarian crowd at a recent Soho Forum did, when members ended up overwhelmingly agreeing with our CEO Kevin Sabet after he debated Reason editor Zach Weissmueller on this very issue.  

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