Current Events > Oregon's drug decriminalization has not gone very well

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.newsweek.com/results-are-oregons-total-drug-decriminalization-was-failure-opinion-1866963

Huh. Newsweek is trash, but the state of emergency thing is true. Was there a better way to handle it?

The guy has pages and pages about anti-pot articles.

https://time.com/6318102/decriminalizing-drugs-overdose-study/

Besides, even if this particular law didn't work, that doesn't mean you should start arresting for people for pot again, how does that help anyone?

Opinion piece... from newsweek? It's like you don't even want people to check out your link.

I'm not clicking a Newsweek article, but there probably is some truth to this even if it's from a gross biased perspective.

Drug decriminalization and safe injection sites in Vancouver have been a disaster, so It wouldn't surprise me at all if Portland is having similar issues.

Guide posted...

Huh. Newsweek is trash, but the state of emergency thing is true. Was there a better way to handle it?

This article is written by a former policy adviser and medical doctor. So it's not just some right wing boomer mad at the liberal city. That said I found the article pretty lacking in actual substantive policy recommendations. This current policy doesn't work and they apparently need to do more evidence based and treatment policies (according to the author). I really don't know enough about the current policy to say, but this article doesn't actually seem like it's got a real plan of action.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gWFlpCBMyIk&pp=ygUXdHlsZXIgb2xpdmVpcmEgcG9ydGxhbmQ%3D

I saw this video of Portland a few months ago. I used to think downtown Seattle was bad but it got nothing on Portland.

PMarth2002 posted...

that doesn't mean you should start arresting for people for possession again, how does that help anyone?

It helps private prisons, which are the intended benefactor.

Locking up drug users doesn't work. We have 50+ years of evidence that shows that. Oregon's overdose rates are no higher than other states, including many red states.

Locking people up for using drugs doesn't get them clean, it actually makes their problems worse. Forcing people to go to rehab doesn't work, it can harden them against rehab and takes the spot of someone who genuinely wants to get clean, and rehab doesn't work on people that don't want to get clean.

You want to drastically lower overdoses? Give them a clean supply and increase funding for voluntary recovery treatment. You also get the added bonus that it is far cheaper to do that than it is to lock them up.

Jeremy517 posted...

Give them a clean supply

Vancouver has tried this. It's failed miserably. A lot of the safe supply just ends up being sold by the addicts to get stronger shit.

Too much of something is rarely good.

monolith topic / 10

There is a very key reason this has worked so well in other countries but struggles here. They all have robust social safety nets to not only guide but help in recovery and if not recovery safely use with no stigma until such a time they are ready for help.

electricbugs2 posted...

Vancouver has tried this. It's failed miserably. A lot of the safe supply just ends up being sold by the addicts to get stronger shit.

There's evidence to support this?

I visited Oregon last year. Its such a beautiful state with such a depressing society.

MistyKnight posted...

There is a very key reason this has worked so well in other countries but struggles here. They all have robust social safety nets to not only guide but help in recovery and if not recovery safely use with no stigma until such a time they are ready for help.

Which countries to be exact?

Jeremy517 posted...

Forcing people to go to rehab doesn't work

A quick search isn't giving me a clear answer on the recidivism rate being different from voluntary rehab, which is 40-60%. You have any source better than what I can find?

Guide posted...

A quick search isn't giving me a clear answer on the recidivism rate being different from voluntary rehab, which is 40-60%. You have any source better than what I can find?

Wouldn't surprise me if the statistics for "voluntary" rehab include a lot of people who only technically volunteered, i.e. they were pressured or threatened into it by friends or family. Meanwhile involuntary rehab is when a judge orders you to do it with legal consequences if you don't comply. In both cases the person probably isn't ready to make the change, and might not even acknowledge they have a problem in the first place (pre-contemplative), so (re)lapse is inevitable.

Honestly, it's not a bad idea. However I think the drug equivalent of "throw them in the pool, they'll learn how to swim" was not the best option.

CE is the BEST news aggregate, and i trust all their sources.

we. need. more. laws. arrest. more. AMEN!

As a recovering alcoholic, I can tell you that an addict is not going to quit until they are truly ready. Only they will know when that is. As good as it sounds, you can't quit for family, friends, or any other reason. You have to do it for yourself

Humble_Novice posted...

Which countries to be exact?

Portugal Netherlands Sweden Switzerland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4L20t8Dvlg

TCs tag checks out

If you are going to link to Newsweek you could at least put a part of the article in the post itself .

Monolith topic

__starsnostars posted...

Opinion piece... from newsweek? It's like you don't even want people to check out your link.

It's their mo.

"Look at the liberal state failing according to this opinion piece! Now if you'll excuse me I have no choice but to pay $30 for 2 pounds of chicken"

kage_53 posted...

I saw this video of Portland a few months ago. I used to think downtown Seattle was bad but it got nothing on Portland.

To be fair, someone made a reply video to that one that basically called him out for being not just wrong but being actively disingenuous about his findings to the point that it was dangerous. So it's sort of a mixed affair.

You can't just decriminalise and expect good results. It has to go alongside proper mental health care, social provision, safe supply, and usage facilities.