Oregon governor signs bill criminalizing drug possession

Gov. Tina Kotek has made it official: Drug possession will soon be a crime once again in Oregon.

On Monday, Kotek signed House Bill 4002, which both expands funding for substance abuse treatment and makes possessing small amounts of hard drugs a misdemeanor beginning Sept. 1.

In a three-page signing letter, Kotek appeared to address the limitations and challenges of a law that gives individual counties sweeping power to design their own ways to implement the policy shift.

“Success of this policy framework hinges on the ability of implementing partners...