$10 million in Measure 110 drug treatment funding granted to Oregon recovery groups

By Evan Schreiber

PORTLAND, Ore. — More than $10 million is being granted for addiction recovery services, after Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in November 2020. The landmark law is opening up more money for treatment while also decriminalizing possession for some small amounts of drugs.

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) selected 48 organizations to receive more than $10 million in initial funding to provide recovery services.

OHA staff said these organizations filed funding proposals that were evaluated by an 18-person committee, which included members of the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council, OHA and Oregon Dept. of Human Services staff.

The Miracles Club, the community recovery center in Northeast Portland, was awarded the full $213,077 it requested through the grant, according to executive director Julia Mines.

Mines walked through the halls of the center on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and talked about the future. She explained their organization will now be able to offer more peer services for people who need help, as she did 23 years ago when her own addiction recovery journey began.

“To just come and sit so I wouldn’t venture out down the street or around the corner to where the drugs were," Mines said, telling KATU about the safe-haven that was offered.

Mines told KATU the center is a place where people battling a substance use disorder, or their family members, can come to a place that is free of alcohol and drugs to get the services they need.

“Get your needs met. 'What do you need? How can I help you move on in your life and help you get clean and sober?'”

The new grant will help Mines do just that.

This first round of funding in the aftermath of Measure 110's passing will be sent by June 8 and new programs will begin shortly thereafter and support programming through the end of 2021, while existing programs will provide enhanced services, OHA staff said.

The funds were pulled from the Oregon's marijuana tax dollars, as Oregon voters intended.

According to OHA, awardees were able to demonstrate their ability to offer services that:

• Are culturally and linguistically specific

• Increase low-barrier, trauma-informed, and non-stigmatizing recovery and treatment

• Support person-directed recovery, and

• Support and expand the peer-based workforce

“Not only does it show the need but it also shows how much our community is ready for this," said Tera Hurst, executive director of the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance. “I’m very encouraged.”

Hurst said 114 proposals were written by Oregon recovery and treatment groups, which means more than half the organizations didn't get this initial round of funding like they had hoped. OHA saidthey received a total of "$40 million in asks," from these 114 organizations.

Hurst was asked what she would tell those organizations who were left out in this initial round of awards.

“We’re not giving up on you. We’re going to continue to advocate and fight until every person in our communities has access to these life-saving treatments. That’s what our role is. We’re not giving up on folks just because they didn’t maybe, necessarily make the cut or they didn’t know how to articulate their vision in the way that our bureaucracies need," Hurst said.

Yet, Hurst is encouraged to see the legislature take these addiction issues seriously.

OHA said that the organizations chosen for funding provided proposals met the criteria to deliver services to communities most impacted by substance use disorder and the war on drugs, including Communities of Color and Tribal communities.

“This is a great first step. We’re building a foundation of recovery services," Hurst said. "For us, it’s really about making sure that we’re investing in culturally specific and linguistically specific centers so that we’re really meeting the needs of everyone in our community. And, especially, the folks that have been most targeted by the war on drugs.”

The Miracles Club will put their funding toward peer recovery services, Mines said, with hopes that their clients and their community will receive the same guidance she got: Person-to-person counseling and hope for the future.

“It was the ability to have somebody with shared experience give me some hope, some hope that I could do that, too. That I could be there, too. That you can do this. Just follow – do what we do. And we’ll help you to the next step."