Backers of an initiative to decriminalize small amounts of illicit drugs and redirect most revenue generated by recreational marijuana sales toward drug abuse treatment started collecting signatures in Portland this week.

Advocates need 112,020 signatures to qualify for the November 2020 ballot.

Campaign manager Peter Zuckerman said the proponents will decide to push ahead with the initiative depending on the success in collecting signatures this month.

The effort is called Initiative Petition 44 or the 2020 Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. It is backed by the Drug Policy Alliance, the same group behind the 2014 ballot measure that legalized recreational marijuana in Oregon.

Zuckerman said organizers also will consider polling, fundraising, staff recruitment among other factors in deciding next month whether to continue.

He said the initiative’s aim is to shift to a “health-based approach to drug addiction rather than a criminal justice-based approach.”

It would use most tax revenue generated by recreational marijuana sales to fund treatment centers statewide.

The proposal would remove criminal penalties for personal, non-commercial possession of drugs listed as Schedule I, II, III, or IV by the federal Controlled Substances Act, including heroin, methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

Possession of small quantities for personal consumption would be reduced from misdemeanors to violations, which are similar to speeding tickets. Violators would be subject to a $100 fine or a "completed health assessment by an ‘addiction recovery center,’” according to the initiative petition.

According to a fact sheet put out by the campaign for the initiative, one in every 11 Oregonians is addicted to drugs and “Oregon ranks nearly last out of the 50 states in access to drug treatment.”

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

ncrombie@oregonian.com

@noellecrombie