On September 2, 2024, host Karen James spoke with people at the annual Hands Across the Bridge event about addiction, recovery and deflection. In 2020 Oregonians, realizing that arresting and punishing people for drug use is a failed approach, passed Measure 110 which decriminalized certain drugs and provided funds for treatment. In 2024 the Oregon legislature passed House Bill 4002 recriminalizing these drugs and provided funding to create a deflection process that offered a path to treatment for those struggling with addiction. Deflection went into effect on September 1, 2024.
Years ago, Patty Katz and Louise Wedge, two women in recovery, read an article about National Recovery Month and realized people all over the United States were celebrating their recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. They decided they would stand on top of the Burnside Bridge in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate that they were no longer under the bridge in their addictions, but on top of the bridge to celebrate their recovery. This decision marked the beginning of the Hands Across the Bridge event, a collaboration between Oregon and Washington to celebrate National Recovery Month. In 2001, with the support of the Recovery Association Project and several people from the recovering community, they held the first Hands Across the Bridge celebration on the I-5 bridge.
https://handsacrossthebridge.org/about-us/the-story-of-hands-across-the-bridge/
HB4002 https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2024R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/...
- KBOO