EXCLUSIVE: Measure 110 grant recipient co-authored overdose fatality study

An employee of Portland nonprofit Outside In, recipient of $1.75 million in M110 funding, co-authored study finding no link between M110 and rising drug overdose fatalities

Haven Wheelock, in a Yes on Measure 110 video from 2020, when the measure was on the ballot. Wheelock works for Portland nonprofit Outside In, which received $1.75 million in Measure 110 funding in 2021 and 2022. Wheelock co-authored a widely-reported study published last month that found no correlation between Measure 110 decriminalization and overdose deaths.

A co-author of a widely publicized New York University study about the effects of Measure 110 on drug overdose fatalities in Oregon is employed by a Portland nonprofit that has received $1.75 million in Measure 110 funding.

The study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (“JAMA”), found that “Measure 110 was not association with fatal drug overdoses in Oregon.” The study comes at a time when the future of the measure is up for grabs, with a well-funded effort underway to repeal the measure and supporters circling the wagons to protect it. The debate about Measure 110 often involves what impact, if any, decriminalization has had on Oregon’s overdose crisis.

Haven Wheelock, of Portland, is one of the study’s seven credited co-authors. The study explains that Wheelock works for Outside In, a nonprofit that says it uses “cutting edge and sometimes controversial wraparound services” to support “youth experiencing homelessness and other marginalized people.”

Wheelock’s LinkedIn page says she has been employed as Outside In’s Injection Drug Use Health Service Program Coordinator since 2006. The Oregon Health Authority’s Measure 110 dashboard shows that Outside In has received $1.75 million from grants funded by Measure 110’s reallocation of marijuana taxes to addiction treatment.

Source: Oregon Health Authority. “BHRN” is Behavioral Health Resource Network, “partners” in which receive Measure 110 funding.

The JAMA requires authors submitting studies for publication to disclose “funding and grants received or pending” to allow “readers to be aware of authors’ potential [conflicts of interest] and enabling readers to decide whether a [conflict of interest] disclosure is important in their interpretation of the article.”

The study discloses that Wheelock is employed by Outside In, but does not disclose Outside In’s status as a Measure 110 grant recipient.

In addition to being employed by a Measure 110 grant recipient, Wheelock supported passage of Measure 110 when it was on the ballot in 2020. She appears in a video bearing the Yes on 110 logo, saying “I’m really excited about this measure.”

She penned an opinion piece in Street Roots, Portland’s “street newspaper” in September 2020 urging Oregonians to support Measure 110, observing,

Statewide, nearly two people die of overdose every day, and those overdose rates are rising rapidly, especially during the pandemic, when stress and financial uncertainty are driving people to use more drugs.

Measure 110 went into effect February 1, 2021. In 2021, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control has published overdose fatality data by state, Oregon suffered 3.2 drug overdose deaths per day.

In addition to the required disclosures for financial conflicts of interest, JAMA urges authors to “report other information that may be relevant to the subject matter of their article:”

For instance, an author who serves or recently has served as an officer of a medical society or advocacy organization who writes about topics that have relevance for that organization also is expected to include that additional information in his or her [conflict of interest] disclosures.

The study does not disclose Wheelock’s efforts in support of the Yes on 110 committee.

This morning, I emailed Wheelock and the spokespersons for JAMA and the New York University Langone Health’s Department of Population Health, which employs the study’s senior investigator and co-author Corey Davis, for comment. As of publication time, 2 pm Pacific, I have received no response from any of those parties.

The study’s finding of no relationship between decriminalization and overdose fatalities provided a rhetorical boost to Measure 110 supporters and was repeated in media coverage in Oregon and beyond:

Oregon Public Broadcasting: “Study says drug decriminalization in Oregon did not cause more overdose deaths”

KOIN TV Portland: “Oregon, Washington drug laws not associated with fatal overdose rate: Study”

Time: “Decriminalizing drug possession doesn’t lead to more fatal overdoses”

Those media reports do not mention Wheelock’s co-authorship of the study, her employment with Outside In, or Outside In’s status as a Measure 110 grant recipient.

You’ve just read an Oregon Roundup exclusive, based on original reporting you won’t see anywhere else.