EE. UU.: Oregón abandonó su ley radical sobre drogas. Luego vinieron los arrestos masivos

El retroceso en la descriminalización en Oregón ha llevado a miles de arrestos que alimentan ciclos perjudiciales de detención y liberación, sin mejoras en el acceso a vivienda, salud u otros apoyos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Last year, the state ended a trailblazing law decriminalizing possession. Drug users in some counties are now in and out of jail, without lawyers, struggling to get treatment.

At 7.45am on a cool February morning in Medford, Oregon, six police officers pulled up to a desolate road lined with tarps and a shopping cart and began making arrests.

The officers directed four adults to sit on the sidewalk, handcuffing them behind their backs and rifling through their pockets. They were being detained for illegal camping, but the officers were also searching for evidence of drugs.

“Love you!” a husband and wife shouted at each other as they were separated to be taken to jail.

Officer Paul Verling placed one 43-year-old woman in the back of his car while his team tested a confiscated glass pipe for drug residue. He told her she could potentially avoid jail if she entered drug treatment.

The woman said she had been using methamphetamine to cope with homelessness and would be grateful for treatment. But once Verling ran her name through the system, he discovered she had a warrant for a probation violation. That made her ineligible for “deflection”. She, too, would be going to jail, he said, possibly for a month.

“You wanna engage in some rehab when you get out?” he said.

“Yes sir,” she mumbled.

“I’m glad we had this talk today,” Verling said, as he took her out of the car to escort her into a jail enclosure.