Clackamas County deflection plan set to start Sunday, alongside House Bill 4002

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Clackamas County's new deflection program is set to begin on Sept. 1 following trouble receiving funding in early August.

The program, which is aimed at helping people with substance use disorders to avoid criminal justice, faced a rocky start after it was denied funding from the state.

Clackamas was the only county whose drug deflection plan was initially denied however shortly after, the plan received approval with changes.

“We intend for this program to open doors to treatment opportunities that Measure 110 never could,” said Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth. “I am confident lives will be saved by the work done by our law enforcement and community-based partners, and our goal is to get people into treatment and back into the community.”

This all follows the approval of House Bill 4002 which Tina Kotek signed earlier in 2024 and which expands the funding for substance abuse treatments across Oregon and recriminalizes hard drugs, like methamphetamine and methamphetamine.

Clackamas County's plan requires that when a person with drugs is identified by police and given a court date, the officer now has the ability to refer them to the deflection program, based on the person's eligibility and willingness to participate in the program, the person with drugs won't be charged with any crimes and will be fully entered into the program.

Someone with drugs could be denied entry depending on the initial police report, prior criminal history or their current involvement with relevant county and non-profit partners, the county said.

Anyone who is unsuccessful with deflection, or who is not offered deflection, is given the opportunity to enter a discharge process done through community court, the county said, which can lead to the case being dismissed with terms that are decided at the time of the conditional discharge.

If someone fails the conditional discharge process or elects to try their case in circuit court, they will be convicted and subject to 18 months of monitored probation, officials said.

After the full plan was approved in early August, Wentworth said that he had faith that this plan would work.

“We know this is an experiment,” Wentworth said. “And this is the program that we put together that we believe because we’ve tried it before — we’ve done it before — we believe it will work.”