Editor’s note: The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board compiles the best and worst news stories in local and state politics. Periodically, Peaks and Valleys publishes. To read the editorial valley for this week, visit regonlive.com/opinion.
The extremely low utilization of a hotline intended to assist in connecting drug users with assistance was one of the many unsatisfactory results of Oregon’s drug-decriminalization experiment. The fact that the Oregon Health Authority would pay a contractor to continue operating the costly hotline when it is obviously useless is even more disheartening.
Following the adoption of Measure 110, which reduced the possession of minor amounts of drugs to a ticketable offense similar to a traffic violation, the hotline—or what the state embarrassingly refers to as a hopeline—was established. Measure 110 allowed drug users who were fined to phone a state-funded hotline to be screened for substance misuse and sent to programs, so avoiding the $100 penalty.
However, hardly many individuals bothered to call in from the beginning. According to a 2024 story, the hotline, operated by Health Resources in Action, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, had only received 73 calls in the first half of that year. The total cost per call came to $10,700.
Then, last year, lawmakers recriminalized narcotics, urged counties to manage drug usage differently, and largely repealed Measure 110. However, the Oregon Health Authority recently agreed to extend its contract with the organization until June of this year, increasing the $2.7 million deal to a total of $3.4 million, as reported by Noelle Crombie of TheOregonian/OregonLive. Crombie was informed by a spokeswoman that the extra months will enable the state to prevent service interruptions and enable a careful assessment of the current phone line continuum.
Whom should I avoid disturbing? Furthermore, there is no justification for extending this contract in the meantime, even though the state ought to assess the many hotlines that fulfill comparable functions. The choice to continue this contract is frustratingly perplexing, even though the volume of money is quite little in comparison to the massive sums that the Oregon Health Authority pays out.
Sejal Hathi, director of OHA, recently faced criticism after it was revealed that she would be joining the faculty at Stanford University’s School of Medicine while also maintaining her position at OHA. Outraged by the criticism, she told lawmakers that the appointment would allow her to see patients at the university’s hospital in California for about one shift each month, keeping her in touch with the realities of health care and health policy on the ground. Only after being told that doing something comparable in a hospital in Oregon under the supervision of the health authority would present a conflict of interest did she turn to California, she claimed.
The extension of the hotline contract should help her realize why she received so much backlash, even though her justification is sound. The health authority recently made the ridiculous choice to spend money on a duplicate and underutilized hotline that has no legal justification. The choice shows a lack of discernment, focus, or both. She might want to tone down her defensiveness until she can demonstrate that she is implementing those ideals at every level of this problematic organization.
Fortunately, Senator Kate Lieber assured Crombie that lawmakers will not be wasting any more money on this hotline. Unfortunately, it was not the Oregon Health Authority that severed the cord first.
-The Editorial Board of Oregonian/OregonLive
