PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon’s war on drugs in the state legislature has lawmakers looking at making changes to Measure 110, but there’s also frustration among families who have lost children and young adults.
They say there’s no tough law at the state level to hold drug dealers accountable.
There’s been a push by those grieving families to get the legislature to pass Taylor’s Law, which would put drug sellers in prison for at least 5 years if the delivery of a controlled substance results in death.
Taylor Martinek died at age 24 after unknowingly buying counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax containing fentanyl from a local drug dealer. His family was at the legislature in 2019 when Taylor’s Law was introduced as a bill and had a hearing, but the measure never made it onto the Governor’s desk.
They are hoping a similar bill, HB 2906, will get traction this time, but so far it is not even scheduled for a hearing.
Co-sponsor Rep. Rick Lewis said “there is a reluctance to pass anything that’s going to enhance criminal penalties. It’s like the town hall….the discussion at the town hall had to do with the failures of ballot 110.”
But Sen. Floyd Prozanski said some lawmakers are hesitant.
“If you had a child that received a controlled substance and shared it, is it the intent to hold that youth accountable for that,” Prozanski asked.
The senator says he is willing to have a group of stakeholders between legislative sessions meet to work on what he calls “unintended consequences” of the concept of Taylor’s Law.
But time is ticking. Bills have to have a work session scheduled by March 17, meaning a hearing and a decision to move a bill to the floor for a vote.