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Max Williams, a former senior lawmaker, onetime director of the Oregon Department of Corrections and, most recently, ex-CEO of the Oregon Community Foundation, wants to fix Measure 110, the 2020 ballot measure that decriminalized many hard drugs and allocated cannabis tax money for addiction treatment.
Williams, now a consultant, has been holding widespread conversations with people who want to make the measure more effective at connecting addicts with treatment. He is in the early stages of proposing tweaks to the measure.
“My first hope would be that we could work on a package that the Legislature could consider taking a look at in a special session or in the 2024 session,” Williams says.
He wants lawmakers to consider changes that would reduce the impact on communities and also do more to encourage drug users to seek treatment—and ensure that cannabis money funds evidence-based programs. As a former lawmaker, he thinks the best solutions will come from legislation debated and shaped in Salem, but he also believes there is ample support for a ballot measure if that’s what it takes.
“There’s a lot of momentum toward repeal,” Willams says. “And while I don’t think that’s the right strategy, a ballot measure that allows people to consider adjustments might make sense if the Legislature doesn’t act.”