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This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. In 2020, voters in Oregon

overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to decriminalize the possession of

small amounts of hard drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

The initiative was accompanied by new investments in addiction treatment and support services.

The move was hailed by national drug reform advocates who've long condemned the so-called

war on drugs as a self-defeating policy that filled prisons, disproportionately harmed the poor and communities of color and

failed to deter drug use.

But three and a half years later, public opinion has turned against the groundbreaking approach,

and the state legislature has acted to restore criminal

penalties for hard drugs.

The state experienced rising overdose deaths and high rates of drug use, and open air drug use in streets, parks, and camping areas unnerved many residents.

Our guest journalist E. Tammy Kim wrote about the Oregon experience in the New Yorker,

speaking with activists, treatment providers,

police, lawmakers, and drug users, among others.

Kim is a contributing writer for the New Yorker covering labor in the workplace, arts and culture, poverty and

politics, and the careers. She previously worked as a contributing opinion writer for

the New York Times and a staff writer for Al Jazeera America.

Kim is an attorney who worked in New York for low-wage workers and families facing medical debt

before entering journalism.

Her January story in the New Yorker is titled,

...