News Photo by Julie Riddle Teanna Angelo, of Alpena, waits to pick up recreational marijuana at the Meds Cafe in Rogers Township on Friday. Decriminalization of harder drugs would save lives, Angelo said.

ALPENA — Teanna Angelo has lost most of her family to heroin overdoses.

“If there’d have been more treatment options available, and less throwing my family in jail, many of them would still be breathing today,” Angelo said.

The Alpena resident supports a recent change in Oregon, where voters in November made the state the first in the nation to decriminalize possession of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, LSD, and other hard drugs.

While not declaring the drugs legal, the state has removed criminal penalties — including jail time and stiff fines — associated with possession of small quantities. Possession of one of the drugs now means no more than a $100 fine.

In Michigan, possession of a small amount of cocaine or certain other drugs can be punishable by up to four years in prison, a fine up to $25,000 fine, or both.

Opponents to decriminalization worry that reducing punishments for possession would make it that much easier to obtain and abuse narcotics, to the endangerment of the community.

Angelo moved to Alpena recently from Wisconsin, where marijuana is only legal in extreme medicinal cases. On Friday, she waited to pick up recreational marijuana at the Meds Cafe in Rogers Township.

After seeing the effects of addiction met with jail time and stiff fines instead of treatment, she’s absolutely in favor of decriminalizing hard drugs.

Though Michigan legislators are not currently contemplating changes to the state’s drug enforcement policies, local leaders are divided on whether such changes would be a good idea here.

Dr. Jason Beatty, co-director of the Alpena addiction treatment clinic Freedom Recovery Center, said making hard drugs legal — or at least eliminating incarceration and high fines as punishment for possession — would be more effective than treating addiction through arrests.

In Alpena County, 52 people were arrested for drug crimes in 2019, according to the Michigan State Police — a sharp drop from the 144 arrested in 2018, before marijuana was legalized in the state.

Illicit drug use in the state is on the rise, with a notable spike in overdoses since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The Huron Undercover Narcotics Team — the drug enforcement arm of local police tasked with detecting and stopping drug manufacturers and traffickers — seized $50,000-worth of hard drugs last year and recently conducted raids on multiple drug labs and stopped traffickers bringing heroin from downstate and Chicago.

“Let’s get real,” Beatty said. “It’s 2020. Drugs are everywhere.”

Drug use for any reason other than following a doctor’s orders can easily lead to addiction, which is directly connected to crime, cautioned HUNT Commander Detective Lt. Stuart Sharp.

Most people who use drugs illegally and abuse prescription drugs can’t afford to get them by legitimate means, and they resort to criminal activity to obtain the drugs, he said.

Drugs in hands that shouldn’t have them can have severe consequences, including loss of income, family, and health, Sharp said.

Being punished for their addition only makes matters worse, Beatty countered.

Instead of punishment, those with a psychological addiction to drugs need help addressing that addiction, he said.

Oregon’s November decision, approved by about 60% of the state’s voters, requires that money saved by not prosecuting and punishing possession be used for recovery services, including addiction recovery centers to provide treatment any time of day or night.

Right now, Alpena doesn’t have adequate services to meet the needs of addicts in recovery, Beatty said, and he doesn’t have an alternate plan to address rampant drug use if hard drugs would be decriminalized.

On the other hand, Beatty said, “Why not try something different? Will it work? I don’t know. But I know what we’re doing isn’t working.”

In September, Ann Arbor’s city council voted to decriminalize psychedelic drugs.

Michigan voters decided in 2018 to legalize the use and possession of moderate amounts of marijuana. Legislation signed in October allows marijuana-related charges to be expunged.

Marijuana has been fully legal in Oregon since 2014. Strict criminal charges for possession of the drug were eliminated by voters in 1973.