Senate Bill 580, which would require school districts to negotiate with teachers unions over class size, won't significantly reduce class sizes and instead could reduce investment in the kinds of equity initiatives and mental health supports that have been shown to help students, the editorial board writes. But the bill, which passed the Oregon Senate and now sits in a House committee, is a priority of the teachers union, one of Democrats' biggest donors.
State first to decriminalize possession of hard drugs
By ANDREW SELSKY
Of The Associated Press
SALEM Police in Oregon can no longer arrest someone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other hard drugs as a ballot measure that decriminalized them took effect on Monday.
Instead, those found in possession would face a $100 fine or a health assessment that could lead to addiction counseling. Backers of the ballot measure decriminalizing hard drugs, which Oregon voters passed by a wide margin in November, hailed it as a revolutionary move for the United States.
“Today, the first domino of our cruel and inhumane war on drugs has fallen, setting off what we expect to be a cascade of other efforts centering health over criminalization,” said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which spearheaded the ballot initiative.
Police in Oregon can no longer arrest someone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs as a ballot measure that decriminalized them took effect on Monday.
Police in Oregon can no longer arrest someone for possession of small amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone and other drugs as a ballot measure that decriminalized them took effect Feb. 1.