Last year, Oregon ended its three-year experiment with drug decriminalization known as Measure 110. This came when Oregon lawmakers passed House Bill 4002 to implement new criminal penalties for drug possession and fund efforts at the county level to deflect drug users away from the criminal justice system and into treatment as a way to avoid charges. Those deflection programs look different in every county across the state. It has now been a year since that program began in Washington County. District Attorney Kevin Barton joins us, along with John Karp-Evans, the deputy director of the Peer Company, to talk about Washington County’s legal and behavioral health responses to drug use.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. It’s now been one year since the possession of small amounts of drugs has been recriminalized in Oregon, ending the three-year experiment of decriminalization under Measure 110. This means we now have one year of data about deflection programs. These are the programs intended to move drug users out of the criminal justice system and into treatment. It was up to counties to create their own systems if they wanted to – 28 of Oregon’s 36 counties have done that.
We’re going to hear how deflection has been working in just one of those counties right now. Kevin Barton is the Washington County District Attorney. John Karp-Evans is the deputy director of the Peer Company, a nonprofit that provides peer support services in the tri-county area. It’s great to have both of you on the show.
Kevin Barton: Great to be back. Thank you.
John Karp-Evans: Thank you.
Miller: John, first – what went through your mind when you heard that the legislature had recriminalized the possession of drugs?
Karp-Evans: We were supporters of 110 and I believe our goal is to help folks get access to care, so we saw a great pathway to do that through 110. When the recriminalization happened, after reading it into 4002, it appeared the same pathways would be there. They would just look a little different.
Miller: OK, so you were supportive of decriminalization and hopeful for what it would mean, and then you still were hopeful when lawmakers said, wait a minute, Oregonians have made a mistake, we’re going to reverse course.
Karp-Evans: Yeah, from a peer perspective and from helping folks get access to care, we’ve been helping people get access to care prior to 110, right? So we’re always able to help people get care regardless if they’re involved in the criminal justice system or not.
Miller: What were your concerns as the new system was being talked about and before it was set up?
Karp-Evans: Yeah, I mean, one of my biggest concerns is, change is hard. [Measure] 110 was a lot of work. It ended very quickly. Now, we’re going to start the whole process over again. Do we need to create a whole system when we already had work invested in the current system? And how is that going to impact the people seeking services in our community?
Miller: We’re going to talk about some of the details of how deflection works in Washington County, but in the big picture, how would you say it’s gone over the last year?
Karp-Evans: I’d say great. When you start a new program, there’s hiccups, there’s challenges, there’s things … We could sit around a table and think of 1,000 ideas. One of them might work or 10 of them might work. The thing that I’ve seen that’s been really awesome is the collaboration. And as there’s been challenges, there’s been a pivot and a pivot and a pivot to really focus on getting individuals connected to care and really long-term care in the community.
Miller: I want to hear about those pivots, but as I mentioned, Kevin Barton is here as well. And Kevin, you were with us very early on when Washington County’s deflection program was being started up, but I bet a lot of people have forgotten that conversation or may have forgotten some of the details. So just with the basics, who’s eligible for deflection in Washington County?
Barton: Well, great question. We’ve been moving that target as we’ve been building our program. So we started small and we made people who are caught possessing or using a small level of drugs at the misdemeanor level, they were the ones who are eligible. And then as we were able to move the program forward, we increased our eligibility to include more types of misdemeanor drug possession. And then eventually misdemeanor drug possession plus maybe some other lower level crime, with an eye toward getting people who are using drugs, have a drug addiction issue, so we can hopefully get them engaged in treatment.
Miller: And some of those changes just happened over the summer, right?
Barton: That’s right. We’ve been slowly moving this out, and as we’re learning what works and what doesn’t work, we’re expanding the program in a responsible way so we can get people engaged in that treatment.
Miller: Based on the numbers I’ve seen, 142 people were eligible for deflection in Washington County over the course of the last year. Of those, close to half, 86, actually took part. What do you think of that percentage?
Barton: Well, we always want our people taking part to grow, but it’s also we want to make sure we’re putting the right people in the program because this deflection program isn’t for everyone. A big challenge we have is a number of people simply don’t show up, so the police might interact with them, they may give them a citation for possessing or using drugs and then they fall off the radar. So we’re working hard to find those people so we can get them engaged in deflection. Those who do show up, though, we want to make sure they’re meaningfully engaging in treatment. So we want to expand our numbers but do it in a way that works for the population that we’re serving.
Miller: You brought in a notice that police officers can give to people when they’re arrested. Can you explain how this system works?
Barton: Absolutely. So the idea is if the police encounter someone on the streets or in the community and they’re using drugs or possessing drugs, they’re committing a crime: possession of a controlled substance. And the police officers now, they have the choice. They can make an arrest. They can also issue a criminal citation, which means you need to show up for court in a certain amount of time. We’ve shrunk that time down to seven days rather than the typical 30 days. And when the police give them that citation they also give them information about deflection, you might be eligible for this program.
And we work with our peers who will reach out to try and make contact with that person, but we want the person who received the citation also to have information about how to engage. So part of that is the literature they get on the scene with the police officer. Here’s a number you can call, here’s a QR code you can scan, you can learn more about this program that we’re going to be talking to you about.
Miller: John, do you or people you work with, are you the ones who are then following up and saying, “no, for real, you should take part in this program because the alternative is a criminal justice system?”
Karp-Evans: Yeah, absolutely. So we have a list of everyone that’s received those citations and is eligible, and then we start doing active outreach. We start going to addresses, whatever address is on file, trying to find the person. We also show up in the court and intercept them on their court date.
Miller: With minutes left?
Karp-Evans: Yeah. Like seconds.
Miller: So that the criminal proceedings are about to start and you say you have one last chance to take part in …
Karp-Evans: Here’s an option.
Miller: This off-ramp.
Karp-Evans: Yeah. And early on, we were doing this in the hallway. We would literally sit down in the hallway of the courthouse and as people walked in, checked in, we would have a list and we would intercept them prior to walking in to see the judge. [We would] sit down and explain, “hey, this is the option, these are the services, this is how it works, this time you’re eligible, are you willing to participate?”
Miller: Why do you think people say “no?” The say “yes,” to me, seems a little bit more obvious. Like I don’t want this on my criminal record. I don’t want another misdemeanor conviction. Why do you think people are saying “no,” either actively or saying “yes,” but then not taking part?
Karp-Evans: Yeah, I mean, I can speak for myself and my life, struggling with substance abuse. I was offered help a million times and until it was right for me, I never accepted it. So just because there’s an acceptable way to get help doesn’t mean everyone’s going to accept it. We have to keep offering and we never know when that person may or may not take advantage of that opportunity.
Miller: If you can sort of put your current self in the mind of you when you were an active user, what do you imagine the deflection program would have looked like to you then?
Karp-Evans: Yeah, I had the help from the criminal justice system to get into recovery.
Miller: “Help,” in quotes?
Karp-Evans: [Laughs] Yeah.
Miller: You were forced.
Karp-Evans: Well, I had, I still had a choice, but it was choices given by the criminal justice system, right?
Miller: Pre-deflection, but there have been versions of off-ramps for a while.
Karp-Evans: Yeah, long-term incarceration or get help.
Miller: OK.
Karp-Evans: Yeah, those were my options. And really for me, what I see now, is an opportunity for individuals that may not have opportunities outside of the system – people that might not have insurance or come from different economic status that have historically had more access to care. This gives anyone in our community access to care where you get a wrap-around service with peer support, with case management, with access to treatment to really avoid the criminal justice system, regardless of economic status.
Miller: Kevin, of the 86 people who did take part in Washington County deflection over the last year, 23 have successfully completed the program, according to county numbers. Another 37 are still active, so they’re still taking part in various programs that they’ve been referred to. But what does successful completion mean in Washington County’s eyes?
Barton: Well, essentially it means meaningfully engaging in recommended treatment. And we measure that by … We have people take a drug evaluation, what type of treatment do you need? And then if there’s a recommendation that a person needs X, Y or Z, then they need to engage in that in a meaningful way for a period of time – six months – and then at the end of that period of time, our team takes a look at that individual and makes a decision. Do we think this person, more likely than not, will continue to engage if we pull back, if we back away?
Miller: When you say “our team,” those are prosecutors, or that is made up of people both in the criminal justice system and, say, peer support folks like John?
Barton: There’s one prosecutor on the team, but it’s not prosecutors. This is not a prosecutor-focused team. The goal is to collaborate with people like John and other nonprofits that we work with. There’s about 20 different nonprofits that we work with to look at it from a public health perspective, but using the possibility of a criminal prosecution as one of the motivating factors to get people to engage.
The early data is that it’s working. When I was on your show about a year ago, one of the questions you asked me was how will we measure success? And one of the factors I pointed to is, I’m gonna look at the drug overdose death rate. Is that number going down? And what we’ve seen so far in Washington County for the first six months of 2025, that number has dropped by about 60% compared to pre-deflection.
Miller: Do you know if it’s gone down more than in counties that don’t have deflection programs? Because there have been nationwide drops in drug overdose deaths.
Barton: I know it’s gone down more than some of the other neighboring counties around us. I haven’t compared it to the nationwide trend; there has been a nationwide downward trend. But a 60% reduction is, I’d say, an outlier and a significant indicator that deflection and a number of other things that are happening alongside deflection, those things seem to be moving the numbers in the right direction.
Miller: While we’re talking about tri-county area comparisons … You mentioned what successful completion means in Washington County, which is pretty intense. I mean, it involves six months of participation and a committee looking to see if someone has made meaningful changes in their life and if they’re less likely to reoffend, in a sense.
In Multnomah County, it’s much more lenient. They say people have completed deflection if they access even one referred service within a month-long deflection window. I don’t want to put you in the position of saying bad things about your neighboring county, but I am curious, truly curious, what you think about these two counties’ very different approaches, definitions of success?
Barton: Well, I guess what I can say about it is I think the way we’re doing it in Washington County, with an emphasis on getting people meaningfully engaged in recommended treatment, is the only way. I think getting people to engage in treatment is what our voters expected would happen when they voted in 2020 for Ballot Measure 110. And then when they realized that that wasn’t happening, that’s what led to the push to make some changes to get treatment back in the system. I think any system that doesn’t emphasize treatment is failing the population that it should be serving.
Miller: John, are there services for everybody in Washington County who wants them? Because we’ve been focusing so far on on the numbers of people who say “yes” or “no” and then what success means. But this can only be successful, it seems, if as soon as people say, “I want treatment,” “I want peer support,” “I want help with housing” or whatever, if they can get it very quickly. Otherwise, I think they’ll get disillusioned and it’s not going to work.
Karp-Evans: Yeah, I would say, are there the right services at the right moment? Potentially not, right? I mean, we know Oregon lacks nationally in access to care, but what I do know is there’s some service available, whether that’s peer support bridging the gap for two or three days, whether that’s a sober housing provider and outpatient instead of inpatient. There’s creative ways that we can work in the continuum to get people care when they’re seeking it.
Miller: Has that been an issue, Kevin? I mean, have there been times when someone says, “yes, I want to take part in deflection and I want to do detox,” for example, and there is no bed for them?
Barton: It has been, but what we’ve done is we’ve relied on our partners. So as John said earlier, it’s a collaborative effort. We’ve got about 20 different nonprofits that we’re working with and no one can do this on their own. We couldn’t do this without John and his organization and other groups that are out there, some of them culturally specific, others more generally focused. And what it has allowed us to do is to find ways, if there’s a roadblock in front of us, to navigate around that. If we need to have someone, if [a] treatment bed is not available immediately, then we find a way to get that person into a bed as soon as possible and we do it with the partners that we have.
Miller: You were supposed to get $1.4 million from the state to set up your system. Every county that wanted to do this would get some money based on their size. But how much is it actually going to cost to run this going forward?
Barton: That’s a really good question and we’re very worried about that. It’s going to cost more than $1.4 million for a county of Washington County size. We got about the same amount as Marion County. And part of the issue is the amount of funding that was distributed wasn’t, in my opinion, distributed in a very smart or methodical way.
So we know, based on the the service we’re providing, where we’re getting people engaged in treatment and it’s a real hands on approach, we need people to be able to do that, we need peer organizations to be able to engage, we need nonprofits around us to have stable funding they can rely on in the future. And we’re still very worried as we move forward with some of the questions about what will the state be funding and what can we rely on? That’s a real Achilles heel for us that we’re watching very nervously.
Miller: But is the state expected to do that or or was it just, hey, here’s some money to set it up and then once it’s up and running, we expect you, 36 counties or however many decide to set this up, to do it on your own?
Barton: The state needs to fund this, so I can’t predict what the state may choose to do down the road. It wouldn’t be the first time that the state started a program with funding and then turned to the counties to say, “now you do it.” I can tell you that if that’s the path forward, many counties are going to back away because the county funding is not available. Many counties including Washington County are dealing with budget crises.
So the state, if it wants to pursue this – which I hope it does – it needs to provide stable funding that we can rely on moving forward that focuses not on quantity of individuals, like the Multnomah County approach, but on the quality of the service provided, which I think is the Washington County approach.
Miller: John, what do you think it’s going to take in the long term for this system to work?
Karp-Evans: Yeah, I think continued collaboration. One of the things that’s exciting about this process for me is really seeing the collaboration between all the system partners. Kevin’s mentioned all the different orgs. Our peers have sent referrals along with the peers from 4D to over 25 different organizations, whether it’s housing, whether it’s treatment, whether it’s detox, having the officers involved, having the DA involved, it’s really been a collaborative approach. This seems to be helping the community get care.
Miller: We just have about 30 seconds left, so this is maybe too big a question, but has your trust in law enforcement changed as a result of this partnership?
Karp-Evans: I would say my trust in law enforcement’s changed over the last two or three years in all sorts of different partnerships. I think that as a community, we’re realizing from all aspects we have to work together. We’re serving the same people. They’re seeking the same services. If we work together as a continuum, we can help our community heal.
Miller: John and Kevin, thanks very much.
Barton: Thank you.
Karp-Evans: Thank you.
Miller: John Karp-Evans is the deputy director of the Peer Company. It’s a nonprofit peer support provider. Kevin Barton is the district attorney for Washington County.
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