On a gray cold morning in Eastern Oregon, Barrett Hamilton watched his coworker, Olen Grimes, hand out warm clothing from the back of Taylor Center’s community outreach van.

“People suffering from addiction don’t care if it’s a felony or a misdemeanor. They’re gonna do it regardless,” he said. Chuckling in a self-effacing way he continued, “When I was using, I didn’t care. That’s why addiction is not good. We just don’t think about the consequences of our actions. Out here, our goal is to build trusting relationships so when people are ready go into recovery, they know we are here to help.”

The debate whether to recriminalize small amounts of drugs in Oregon may be over, for now, but many wonder if the state can meet the financial burden and work force required to combat surging rates of addiction and homelessness. Ranking among the highest rates of illicit drug use nationwide, Oregon ranks nearly last for providing access to addiction recovery and mental health treatment.

While Grimes pulled sweatshirts from plastic bins Barrett stated, “We bring our laptop with a hot spot. We help expunge criminal records. We help people apply for SNAP benefits and personal ID’s. We help people get into shelters and recovery programs. By asking ‘What can we do to help?’ we let them choose what they need.”

Now 12 years sober, Hamilton is the program manager for Best Care’s new Taylor Center recovery resource center in Bend. After decades of underfunding and divestment from addiction treatment resources, Hamilton is beginning to see the impact of the measure’s major funding efforts in his region. In addition to the Taylor center and outreach van, Measure 110 funded a six-bed sober living facility serving mothers before and after giving birth, and an eight-bed facility for men and women with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) going through medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

“Since we started our community engagement outreach a little more than year ago, over a hundred people have begun substance use disorder recovery,” Hamilton acknowledged.

Reflecting on their success, Hamilton credited the overlapping programs and systems intentionally designed to break the cycles of addiction and homelessness. Peer mentors who are in long term recovery have built strong trusting relationships.

“Having been there ourselves, we understand the challenges people face. In turn, they know they can trust us,” Hamilton said.

The low-barrier approach, including not requiring abstinence, lets people break the cycle of addiction on their terms. Working within a network of readily available services has reduced waiting times and provide detox and recovery services swiftly.

For Hamilton, the Center’s model is a welcome change to pre-measure 110 mandates to push recovery, get people to meetings, and make them go to treatment.

“They were forced into it for one reason or another. The people I serve now, I get to see what they need in their life to better their life.”

Three hours away in Clatsop County, one out of every 40 individuals is homeless. With fentanyl flooding his region, Sheriff Matthew Phillips believes court-enforced treatment is needed to curb the rising tide of addiction in his county.

“The vast majority of us in Clatsop grew up together. We raised our kids together. We coached together. There isn’t a one of us who doesn’t have a friend or a relative or a co-worker who has struggled with addiction.”

For Phillips, criminalizing the startling influx of fentanyl and other drugs into his county, and using drug courts to mandate treatment, is a very important component to protect his community.

“Sometimes having a social statement in the form of a law about what’s appropriate behavior or not is a good thing. We need a line that says, this behavior is not acceptable. When Measure 110 decriminalized drugs it removed that bright line. The measure’s changes will help us reclaim that bright line.”

In Southern Oregon’s Jackson County, Rep. Pam Marsh (D) voted against Measure 110. Explaining her choice, she said, “There weren’t enough resources, statewide partnerships, and tools in place to prepare the health care and legal systems to effectively implement the new law.” She quickly added, “But, the system was broken long before Measure 110.”

Though these three have diverging views about criminalizing possession of small amounts of any drug, they all agree funding must be funneled into recovery efforts if Oregon is to effectively tackle the crippling rates of addiction, overdoses, mental health issues, and homelessness in towns throughout Oregon.

Marsh said Jackson County has been grappling with poverty, addiction, substance abuse and mental illness for decades.

“We have generations of people who have been born into addictive situations and not finding their way out. Young parents who are being treated in our pregnancy and addiction clinics are not new to addiction. They are people who grew up in addicted households. Unless we figure out some effective ways to just interrupt that cycle, it just continues.”

Marsh stated that if the state is going to reduce addiction, it must also address the underlying systemic issues pervasive in rural regions across the state. Citing Oregon’s increasing rates of homelessness and rent-burdened households often paying 30 to 40% of their wages for housing, Marsh added, “It’s hard to be stable when you don’t have money. When people’s lives start to topple and communities fragment, so does their ‘social capital’.”

Both Phillips and Marsh say this breakdown of “social capital” — the networks of generational relatives, school, churches and institutions providing stability — is in part due to the rise of fentanyl, underemployment, and changing demographics due to the lack of living wages in industry.

“I have no doubt that no matter how tight the society is, there will be people who use substances, but I think well-supported communities with strong social capital will experience less than we are currently experiencing,” Phillips said.

Marsh stressed, “In order to repair our towns we must figure out some effective ways to interrupt that cycle of community instability and generational addiction.”

While drug criminalization efforts were debated and scrutinized, Rep. Rob Nosse, a member of the Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response Oregon, expressed future-pending concerns. Driving past a homeless camp, watching people lean over burn barrels to stay warm, Nosse reflected on the financial demands needed to make a significant dent in skyrocketing rates of substance abuse and houselessness.

“The problem Oregon is really facing is that we’re not going to put enough resources into the treatment system to meet the moment. We need such a massive influx of cash, and then the workforce that that cash would support. And we just don’t have it. That’s what I’m worried about. We will pat ourselves on the back as legislators if we make a $300 million investment above what we’re already doing, and that is a drop in the bucket of what’s needed.”

Nosse prefers a more pragmatic, money-wise method. Echoing Hamilton’s community engagement approach offering low-barrier access to safe shelter and recovery, Nosse stated, “We have so many people who want treatment but can’t get in because we don’t have enough beds available. I think, let’s focus on those folks first. Provide safe shelter where there’s security and sanitation. Provide access to care. Give the resources to wean themselves slowly. Help people believe their circumstances can get better. I think that is where our limited dollars need to go.”

As rural towns struggle to quell the fentanyl overdoses and rising rates of addiction, the question remains whether the state has the financial resources and the human capital to meet the complex, immediate needs of addicts while also addressing deeply-rooted systemic issues within increasingly fractured communities.