Oregon adopts ambitious goals to cut addiction rate

Oregon Recovers applauded Monday the announcement of aggressive and tangible goals by the state Alcohol & Drug Policy Commission to reduce Oregon’s exceptionally high addiction rate, as well as its determination to become a national leader in addiction recovery policy, by becoming the first state in the nation to measure its addiction recovery rate and then plan intentionally to increase it by 25% over 5 years.

If achieved, Oregon will move from having the 4th highest addiction rate in the nation to the 10th lowest. according to Oregon Recovers, which issued a news release that continues below.

Pursuant to the requirements of HB 4137, a bill sponsored by Rep. Tawna Sanchez at the request of Oregon Recovers and signed by the Governor last session, the ADPC submitted a framework for the state’s first comprehensive plan to address its addiction crisis to the Legislature on September 14 th . This is the first time Oregon set measurable goals for decreasing its steep addiction rates and increasing its recovery rates.

“At long last, Oregon is setting measurable goals to address the state’s addiction crisis. We applaud the commissioners of the ADPC for thinking boldly in how it plans to reduce addiction and increase recovery in Oregon. The framework submitted to the Legislature is a comprehensive guide to achieving the outcomes necessary to meet these ambitious goals. The next key step is to implement a stakeholder-driven strategic planning process that spells out what policies, programs and funding is necessary to produce these outcomes” stated Mike Marshall, Director of Oregon Recovers.

“At the end of the day we measure what matters. As an ADPC Commissioner, I’m excited that we are finally establishing concrete goals and measurable objectives to lower the state’s dramatically high addiction rate, as well as being bold in our thinking, by becoming the first state in the nation to commit to measuring and improving its recovery rates” stated Brent Canode, an ADPC Commissioner and Chair of Oregon Recovers.

First established in 2008, the ADPC is the single point of addiction recovery policy in the state and is charged by the Legislature to develop a biennial strategic plan to address addiction which determines the programs and resources necessary to recover from it. To date, it has failed to produce any plan, despite its statutory obligations, and during the worst addiction epidemic in state history.

In March of 2018 and at the urging of Oregon Recovers, the Legislature unanimously passed, and the Governor signed into law, HB 4137 which set a specific set of deadlines for the ADPC to develop the state’s first addiction recovery plan. The first deadline was September 15 th , which required the ADPC to submit to the Legislature a “framework” for a plan, which would then be converted to an RFP no later than November 1, 2018, which will be used to select an outside consultant to lead the planning effort. Statutorily, the plan must be completed by June 30 th , 2020 but the ADPC is working towards a January 1, 2020 completion date in advance of the February 2020 legislative session.

Oregon Recovers submitted a recommended framework to the ADPC in July, and the ADPC subsequently adopted those recommendations as its foundational framework at its July 26 th meeting. It was then edited and adopted in August, with most of Oregon Recovers’ initial framework intact, and submitted to the Interim House & Senate Health Care Committee’s on September 14 th .

Five people die each day in Oregon in alcohol-related deaths* and 1 person dies each day due to a drug overdose. This is a combined total of over 2100 people each year. As a result, Governor Kate Brown issued an Executive Order in March declaring addiction had reached the level of a public health crisis, allocated new resources to the ADPC so that it could meet its statutory obligation to develop a strategic plan and installed Dr. Reginald Richardson as the Executive Director of the ADPC.

Oregon Recovers is an inclusive statewide coalition comprised of people in recovery-and their friends and family–uniting to transform Oregon’s fractured and incomplete addiction recovery system into a recovery-based, continuum-of-care that recognizes addiction as a chronic disease requiring a life time of services. More info: www.OregonRecovers.org

**Alcohol-Related Death Statistic comes from Dr. Thomas Jeanne at the OHA. Thomas.l.Jeanne@dhsoha.state.or.us