State lawmakers are debating taking away millions of dollars of grant funding related to Oregon's drug decriminalization law -- legislation that recovery advocates are fighting.

The Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance said House Bill 2089 could pull as much as $60 million from addiction recovery services.

Voters passed Measure 110 in 2020 and made Oregon the first state in the country to decriminalize possession of small amounts of hard drugs. The measure also allocated millions of dollars from marijuana taxes to addiction recovery services.

So far, it's covered roughly $300 million in grants for organizations offering a range of services from housing to needle exchanges; OHA released a report this week saying it served over 60,000 people in recovery through the end of September.

The legislation proposes taking a portion of marijuana taxes that currently goes to Measure 110 grant funding and giving it back to Oregon cities and counties that lost the money when Measure 110 passed.

The director of the organization advocating for a full implementation of Measure 110, the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance, explained why her organization opposes this legislation.

“Not only does it go against the will of the voters, it also is disinvesting in an issue that legislative leadership has all come out and said is their top priority,” Executive Director Tera Hurst said. "When you come back two years later to try and reverse the will of the voters, that's offensive to the will of the voters."

A long list of recovery advocates testified Thursday in a House committee hearing.

“This bill would be devastating to Measure 110-funded addiction recovery services across the state at a time when access to addiction recovery services should be prioritized and expanded,” co-chair of the Measure 110 Oversight and Accountability Council Ron Williams said.

Another person who opposes it was Monta Knudson, executive director of Bridges to Change.

"This is allowing us to expand 202 supportive housing beds across four counties, along with 67 staff of a variety of the peer mentors housing outreach and other types of caseworkers," he said. "So lawmakers that are introducing bills to take money from the services that we're trying to stand up is just going in the opposite direction."

A group of mayors making up the Metropolitan Mayors Consortium supported the bill and said Measure 110 took a combined $45 million from their cities over the last few years.

The group said in testimony, in part, "Our ability to pay for public health and public safety services has lessened. HB 2089 helps rectify this revenue gap[.]"

“HB 2089 provides critical financial support from the Marijuana account to cities, counties and the Oregon State Police. These funds can be used to combat the illegal Marijuana market that has grown dramatically in communities across the state. Without this funding the illegal Marijuana market, and the associated community livability issues, will only get bigger,” the Oregon Sheriff’s Association said in written testimony supporting the legislation.

The legislation is scheduled for more public hearings next week in the House Committee on Revenue.