Executive
Committee
Subcommittee Chairs
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State Health
Care Forums
"Your Oregon, Your Health"
May
1 -June 11
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
13 cities around Oregon
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here for details.
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Executive
Director's Message
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February
2008
In a truly bipartisan effort that surprised even the most hopeful
among us, Oregon lawmakers overwhelmingly passed three pieces
of legislation in the final hours of the supplemental session
which will afford Oregon voters a choice in November 2008.
The bills offer sweeping changes in the sentencing of convicted
repeat drug offenders, and extend treatment services to qualifying
offenders to aid them in ending the cycle of addiction driving
so many of these crimes. Governor Kulongoski is expected to
sign the bills the moment they hit his desk.
Over and over again, law enforcement and treatment professionals
hear the same message, there are not enough resources to provide
desperately needed treatment services for those in the throws
of alcohol, or drug addition. With strong support from the Oregon
District Attorneys Association, the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association,
Criminal Justice Commission, OPERA, various local law enforcement
officials, and other organizations, the alternative measure
clearly presents a collaborative approach to a growing and frustrating
problem, crimes driven by alcohol and drug addiction. |
Debra Glimour, OPERA Executive Director
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The legislation places an additional measure on the November
2008 General Election ballot providing a choice to voters in
how repeat drug offenders will be sentenced and includes a grant
program to fund sorely needed alcohol and drug abuse and addiction
treatment services; something absent from Initiative Petition
40. The legislatively passed alternative which will go before
voters in the Fall, will have a significantly smaller financial
impact to taxpayers' pocketbooks, and begin to address the root
cause of so many property crimes, drug addiction.
Testimony provided during legislative hearings clearly highlighted
the seriousness of the disease of addiction. By virtue of the
votes of committee members and the legislative body, it was
very evident lawmakers recognized that incarcerating those with
alcohol and drug abuse and addiction without addressing the
core issue of the disease of addiction is not going to solve
the growing number of drug related property crimes.
The task now lies ahead for all of us in educating the public
about the relationship between alcohol and drug addiction treatment,
and the reduction of crime rates associated with addiction recovery.
Make no mistake about it, for those who deliberately engage
in a repeated lifestyle of manufacturing and supplying drugs,
there will be enhanced sentences. But by supporting a ballot
measure that along with stronger penalties for repeat offenders
includes treatment for first time offenders and those suffering
from the disease of addiction, Oregonians and the public's safety
at large will be much better served in the future.
Along with that, we must place a much higher level of importance
on reducing underage drinking and drug use.
30% of eight graders in Oregon admit to alcohol use in the past
month; these 12 and 13 year-old children are our future! While
it is hard to imagine, the harsh reality is that for many of
those same youngsters their future will include battling alcohol
and drug addiction, and the possibility of serving prisons sentences
for crimes related to feeding the cravings triggered by alcohol
and drug abuse.
It is the responsibility of every adult in these children's
lives to ensure the future is one of promising possibilities,
not the promise of a jail bed.
This means investing additional resources into not only programs
targeting children, but outreach to adults who have been lulled
into a misguided belief that supplying alcohol to underage young
people, and/or turning a blind eye to underage alcohol use as
a “right of passage,” is OK. Not only is it is not
OK, it is illegal.
Our children have a right to and deserve a lifetime free of
alcohol and drug addiction.
By making balanced investments in prevention and treatment services
along with enforcement, the health, welfare, and safety of all
Oregonian's will be best served. The Oregon Legislature, Republicans
and Democrats together, took a very bold step in that direction.
It is now up to each and every Oregon voter to recognize they
too have the power to set the course, to mandate Oregon's future
as one that provides the greatest level of public safety by
addressing a huge underlying cause of many property crimes,
alcohol and drug addiction.
The Oregon Legislature has done its part. It is now up to us
to do ours. |
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OPERA
is
a statewide, nonprofit association of private sector and tribal
entities who provide treatment, prevention and training services.
We are dedicated to ending addiction by ensuring the development
and maintenance of the highest quality statewide service systems. |
Mission
OPERA’s mission is to eliminate alcohol and drug problems
and their social, health and behavioral consequences through
use of evidence-based practices; partnerships with public and
private, social and healthcare providers; and advocacy for effective
budget and public policy. |
Vision
We envision a society in which alcohol and drug problems are
recognized as a public health issue that is both preventable
and treatable. We envision a society in which high quality services
for prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug problems are
widely available, and where prevention and treatment are recognized
as specialized fields of expertise. |
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