Oregon's drug decriminalization failure

[Anonymous]

The New York Times the Daily did a deep dive on how Oregon's drug decriminalization experiment has fantastically backfired. Did anyone hear it?

This article, which was the basis for the podcast, goes into more details: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/us/oregon-drug-decriminalization-rollback-measure-110.html

Three years ago, when Oregon voters approved a pioneering plan to decriminalize hard drugs, advocates looking to halt the jailing of drug users believed they were on the edge of a revolution that would soon sweep across the country.

But even as the state’s landmark law took effect in 2021, the scourge of fentanyl was taking hold. Overdoses soared as the state stumbled in its efforts to fund enhanced treatment programs. And while many other downtowns emerged from the dark days of the pandemic, Portland continued to struggle, with scenes of drugs and despair.

Lately, even some of the liberal politicians who had embraced a new approach to drugs have supported an end to the experiment. On Friday, a bill that will reimpose criminal penalties for possession of some drugs won final passage in the State Legislature and was headed next to Gov. Tina Kotek, who has expressed alarm about open drug use and helped broker a plan to ban such activity.

My question is: At what point will the progressive wing get the hint that unleashing chaos in cities, counties, school districts and states by going lax on all things related to public safety is a losing strategy? Who is having that difficult conversation with the activists who are pushing for these ridiculous policies that inevitably fail and have to be pulled back? Real people are harmed by these stunts and it's not ok.

[Anonymous]

I’m not for decriminalizing drugs but I think addiction should be dealt with medical intervention. Criminal intervention isn’t working. America spends like $100 billion on illegal drugs; clearly “Just Say No” and police aren’t making a dent. We waste a lot of time and money on people who choose to destroy their lives with drugs. What’s your solution?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not for decriminalizing drugs but I think addiction should be dealt with medical intervention. Criminal intervention isn’t working. America spends like $100 billion on illegal drugs; clearly “Just Say No” and police aren’t making a dent. We waste a lot of time and money on people who choose to destroy their lives with drugs. What’s your solution?

Did you even listen to the podcast or read the article?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The New York Times the Daily did a deep dive on how Oregon's drug decriminalization experiment has fantastically backfired. Did anyone hear it?

This article, which was the basis for the podcast, goes into more details: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/us/oregon-drug-decriminalization-rollback-measure-110.html

Three years ago, when Oregon voters approved a pioneering plan to decriminalize hard drugs, advocates looking to halt the jailing of drug users believed they were on the edge of a revolution that would soon sweep across the country.

But even as the state’s landmark law took effect in 2021, the scourge of fentanyl was taking hold. Overdoses soared as the state stumbled in its efforts to fund enhanced treatment programs. And while many other downtowns emerged from the dark days of the pandemic, Portland continued to struggle, with scenes of drugs and despair.

Lately, even some of the liberal politicians who had embraced a new approach to drugs have supported an end to the experiment. On Friday, a bill that will reimpose criminal penalties for possession of some drugs won final passage in the State Legislature and was headed next to Gov. Tina Kotek, who has expressed alarm about open drug use and helped broker a plan to ban such activity.

My question is: At what point will the progressive wing get the hint that unleashing chaos in cities, counties, school districts and states by going lax on all things related to public safety is a losing strategy? Who is having that difficult conversation with the activists who are pushing for these ridiculous policies that inevitably fail and have to be pulled back? Real people are harmed by these stunts and it's not ok.

The progressive left will never admit it was wrong. Never. It isn’t going to happen for all the children and young adults whose lives they destroyed by the horror of the gender affirmative “care” scandal. (And they’ll never apologize to the brave clinicians and medical providers whose careers were destroyed when they tried to raise the alarm.) And it’s not going to happen here. The progressive left will never admit that their drug decriminalization policies have killed thousands and thousands of people, especially vulnerable young people. They will never admit that they’ve created a generation of hollow husks of humans whose brains will never recover from the poisons that the progressive left made available to them.

Have any progressives championing decriminalization ever actually seen the inside of a “safe” (what Orwellian doublespeak) injection site? They are rooms that belong in a Halloween horror show, not something to be paraded around as a twisted victory of progressive politics.

I live in California. I know dead teens who would not be dead if entitled radical progressives hadn’t taken over the west coast states. To say I am angry at them is an understatement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not for decriminalizing drugs but I think addiction should be dealt with medical intervention. Criminal intervention isn’t working. America spends like $100 billion on illegal drugs; clearly “Just Say No” and police aren’t making a dent. We waste a lot of time and money on people who choose to destroy their lives with drugs. What’s your solution?

Did you even listen to the podcast or read the article?

Obviously the PP did not read it at all and is just repeating her talking points because she can’t admit to the literal hell on earth her favored policies have created.

[Anonymous]

In all honesty, it was a questionable idea with a poor roll out.

If we had the health infrastructure to treat people, it is possible that it could have worked. The read problem is that we have a for profit healthcare system, and drug treatment is not profitable. Mental health treatment has similar barriers. Nobody wants to fix this part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In all honesty, it was a questionable idea with a poor roll out.

If we had the health infrastructure to treat people, it is possible that it could have worked. The read problem is that we have a for profit healthcare system, and drug treatment is not profitable. Mental health treatment has similar barriers. Nobody wants to fix this part of the problem.

What? The bolded is flat-out untrue. Drug and alcohol treatment is enormously profitable, so much so that private equity is pouring into it and they are snapping up treatment centers.

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/private-equity-investment-is-flooding-into-addiction-treatment-is-that-a-good-thing/

The problem is that many drug treatment programs are largely useless scams that create a cyclic patient base that boomerang back again and again until the patients OD or otherwise die a gruesome death.

We will not make any progress until we are willing the be completely honest about the effectiveness of drug treatment programs. The progressive left’s vague hand waving about how treatment solves everything is just nonsense meant to route more state money to private equity owned corporations.

[Anonymous]

This is not a surprise and totally predictable to anyone with a modicum of common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a surprise and totally predictable to anyone with a modicum of common sense.

Eg not the progressive left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all honesty, it was a questionable idea with a poor roll out.

If we had the health infrastructure to treat people, it is possible that it could have worked. The read problem is that we have a for profit healthcare system, and drug treatment is not profitable. Mental health treatment has similar barriers. Nobody wants to fix this part of the problem.

What? The bolded is flat-out untrue. Drug and alcohol treatment is enormously profitable, so much so that private equity is pouring into it and they are snapping up treatment centers.

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/private-equity-investment-is-flooding-into-addiction-treatment-is-that-a-good-thing/

The problem is that many drug treatment programs are largely useless scams that create a cyclic patient base that boomerang back again and again until the patients OD or otherwise die a gruesome death.

We will not make any progress until we are willing the be completely honest about the effectiveness of drug treatment programs. The progressive left’s vague hand waving about how treatment solves everything is just nonsense meant to route more state money to private equity owned corporations.

Correct. Truth be told, the efficacy of drug treatment programs doesn't seem to be much better than the criminal justice response. But at least the criminal justice response spares non-users from being traumatized by drug users by getting them out of the public sphere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all honesty, it was a questionable idea with a poor roll out.

If we had the health infrastructure to treat people, it is possible that it could have worked. The read problem is that we have a for profit healthcare system, and drug treatment is not profitable. Mental health treatment has similar barriers. Nobody wants to fix this part of the problem.

What? The bolded is flat-out untrue. Drug and alcohol treatment is enormously profitable, so much so that private equity is pouring into it and they are snapping up treatment centers.

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/private-equity-investment-is-flooding-into-addiction-treatment-is-that-a-good-thing/

The problem is that many drug treatment programs are largely useless scams that create a cyclic patient base that boomerang back again and again until the patients OD or otherwise die a gruesome death.

We will not make any progress until we are willing the be completely honest about the effectiveness of drug treatment programs. The progressive left’s vague hand waving about how treatment solves everything is just nonsense meant to route more state money to private equity owned corporations.

Correct. Truth be told, the efficacy of drug treatment programs doesn't seem to be much better than the criminal justice response. But at least the criminal justice response spares non-users from being traumatized by drug users by getting them out of the public sphere.

It would be lovely if the regressive right would ever learn from its own mistakes, admit to being wrong or understand why people wanted to try it this way. (Hint: sentencing has never been fairly and prisons are beyond abusive.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The New York Times the Daily did a deep dive on how Oregon's drug decriminalization experiment has fantastically backfired. Did anyone hear it?

This article, which was the basis for the podcast, goes into more details: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/us/oregon-drug-decriminalization-rollback-measure-110.html

Three years ago, when Oregon voters approved a pioneering plan to decriminalize hard drugs, advocates looking to halt the jailing of drug users believed they were on the edge of a revolution that would soon sweep across the country.

But even as the state’s landmark law took effect in 2021, the scourge of fentanyl was taking hold. Overdoses soared as the state stumbled in its efforts to fund enhanced treatment programs. And while many other downtowns emerged from the dark days of the pandemic, Portland continued to struggle, with scenes of drugs and despair.

Lately, even some of the liberal politicians who had embraced a new approach to drugs have supported an end to the experiment. On Friday, a bill that will reimpose criminal penalties for possession of some drugs won final passage in the State Legislature and was headed next to Gov. Tina Kotek, who has expressed alarm about open drug use and helped broker a plan to ban such activity.

My question is: At what point will the progressive wing get the hint that unleashing chaos in cities, counties, school districts and states by going lax on all things related to public safety is a losing strategy? Who is having that difficult conversation with the activists who are pushing for these ridiculous policies that inevitably fail and have to be pulled back? Real people are harmed by these stunts and it's not ok.

The progressive left will never admit it was wrong. Never. It isn’t going to happen for all the children and young adults whose lives they destroyed by the horror of the gender affirmative “care” scandal. (And they’ll never apologize to the brave clinicians and medical providers whose careers were destroyed when they tried to raise the alarm.) And it’s not going to happen here. The progressive left will never admit that their drug decriminalization policies have killed thousands and thousands of people, especially vulnerable young people. They will never admit that they’ve created a generation of hollow husks of humans whose brains will never recover from the poisons that the progressive left made available to them.

Have any progressives championing decriminalization ever actually seen the inside of a “safe” (what Orwellian doublespeak) injection site? They are rooms that belong in a Halloween horror show, not something to be paraded around as a twisted victory of progressive politics.

I live in California. I know dead teens who would not be dead if entitled radical progressives hadn’t taken over the west coast states. To say I am angry at them is an understatement.

I also know kids who've died and "radical progressives" had nothing to do with it. They took pills and didn't know it was laced with fentanyl. Dead teens are occurring in red and blue states. It's bigger than progressives or decriminalization. So since the issue is progressives, what's the problem in red states?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In all honesty, it was a questionable idea with a poor roll out.

If we had the health infrastructure to treat people, it is possible that it could have worked. The read problem is that we have a for profit healthcare system, and drug treatment is not profitable. Mental health treatment has similar barriers. Nobody wants to fix this part of the problem.

What? The bolded is flat-out untrue. Drug and alcohol treatment is enormously profitable, so much so that private equity is pouring into it and they are snapping up treatment centers.

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/25/private-equity-investment-is-flooding-into-addiction-treatment-is-that-a-good-thing/

The problem is that many drug treatment programs are largely useless scams that create a cyclic patient base that boomerang back again and again until the patients OD or otherwise die a gruesome death.

We will not make any progress until we are willing the be completely honest about the effectiveness of drug treatment programs. The progressive left’s vague hand waving about how treatment solves everything is just nonsense meant to route more state money to private equity owned corporations.

Correct. Truth be told, the efficacy of drug treatment programs doesn't seem to be much better than the criminal justice response. But at least the criminal justice response spares non-users from being traumatized by drug users by getting them out of the public sphere.

It would be lovely if the regressive right would ever learn from its own mistakes, admit to being wrong or understand why people wanted to try it this way. (Hint: sentencing has never been fairly and prisons are beyond abusive.)

I think given that decriminalization is a progressive left idea and that it failed spectacularly, that you all are the ones that need to admit to being wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not for decriminalizing drugs but I think addiction should be dealt with medical intervention. Criminal intervention isn’t working. America spends like $100 billion on illegal drugs; clearly “Just Say No” and police aren’t making a dent. We waste a lot of time and money on people who choose to destroy their lives with drugs. What’s your solution?

Did you even listen to the podcast or read the article?

I did read the article. As I stated, I don’t think drugs should be decriminalized. The War on Drugs didn’t work nor did decriminalization. I think conservatives are just for putting people into jail so you don’t have to see them (homeless drug addicts). But we have too many criminals in jail and no one wants to be a corrections officer.

Currently, nothing is working! So what’s the controversy in my posts?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not for decriminalizing drugs but I think addiction should be dealt with medical intervention. Criminal intervention isn’t working. America spends like $100 billion on illegal drugs; clearly “Just Say No” and police aren’t making a dent. We waste a lot of time and money on people who choose to destroy their lives with drugs. What’s your solution?

Did you even listen to the podcast or read the article?

I did read the article. As I stated, I don’t think drugs should be decriminalized. The War on Drugs didn’t work nor did decriminalization. I think conservatives are just for putting people into jail so you don’t have to see them (homeless drug addicts). But we have too many criminals in jail and no one wants to be a corrections officer.

Currently, nothing is working! So what’s the controversy in my posts?!

So if "nothing is working," why are you upset about going back to the status quo?