Oregonians deserve accessible and affordable addiction treatment, mental healthcare, and housing. We can all agree that the rollout of essential funding for addiction and housing services has not been perfect, and services need to adapt to ensure that our substance use disorder treatment and services system is successful.
But we cannot arrest our way out of addiction and homelessness — in fact, it only adds to people’s suffering. Tell your elected officials that people need healthcare and housing, not handcuffs.
Forced addiction treatment can result in criminal records and fines that raise barriers to housing, employment, and education, especially in communities historically over-policed, over-prosecuted, and over-incarcerated. Sweeping homeless encampments uproot people and their few belongings with no safe place to go. These consequences disproportionately impact Black, brown, and Indigenous communities and deepen racial disparities in the criminal justice system.