Portland, Oregon (light seal) — At Friday’s task force meeting, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) said it is prioritizing restoring community trust after previously hiding reports from the public.
The report states that increasing taxes will not curb abusive drinking, contradicting OHA’s previous efforts to increase taxes.
Overall, the report also found that higher taxes could reduce consumption by up to 4%, and for heavy drinkers by up to 2%. However, the report showed that people may turn to cheaper alcohol regardless.
At a task force meeting, Oregon Sen. Tim Knopp said existing OHA staff may have been complicit in covering up the report and potentially misleading the then-secretary. expressed concerns.
“I’m concerned about the information you were given and why you were given it in the first place,” he said. “Because, frankly, I don’t like you making yourself or your agency look good, and that concerns me.”
This opinion is echoed by those in Oregon’s beverage industry.
“What I want to achieve is transparency,” said Gary Mortensen, director of the Oregon Wine Council. “And we want to find out why this information needed to be suppressed.”
OHA’s new director, Dr. Sejal Hati, has been in the job for less than a month, but he said he believes there will be full transparency going forward.
“Part of accountability is making sure we have the right processes in place,” Hattie said. “And if they aren’t in place, we need to put them in place to better oversee reporting and information sharing within the agency. And that’s what we’re working on. .”
Members of the adult beverage industry told KOIN 6 they intend to continue their partnership with OHA as trust is being rebuilt.
