Oregon decriminalized hard drugs. It isn’t working

CopiousX

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I don't think decriminalization was ever going to stop people from using.

I don't think anybody with a drug addiction was ever afraid of being arrested. They were going to do what they wanted to do irregardless because they have no choice in the matter due to physical needs. So the argument that decriminalization would actually make it easier for people to come and seek help is silly.


The primary benefit is that prisons aren't filled with those people. We were briefly entering a period a year or two ago where the vast majority of the prison space would have been taken up by drug users or sellers, leaving no space for actual dangers to society.


A better fix than criminalization, is to simply return asylums . A space that is separate from the penal system solely for holding the mentally incompetent (like drug addicts).


I for one, I think that most of them can still be very very productive people, if they are physically and involuntarily separated from their vice. I'm envisioning a little society behind asylum walls, where a previously addicted person can be separated from their vice, receive therapy, and have all the resources of the outside world but behind the Walls. They should have free access to knowledge , education, entertainment, etc but only behind those walls.

I could envision employers putting offices behind the asylum wall (and paying asylees full outside-wall salaries) . I can envision Amazon warehouses also behind the wall. For the smart people who are addicted, I can envision tech spaces behind the Walls of the asylum. In this context the asylum is not intended to get them back into the Free world, neither is it intended to be a punishment. The type of facility I'm envisioning is solely intended to separate these people from the substances they are abusing and give them no avenue to relapse .

I would like them to have all the rights of a free citizen, except they can't leave the space where they're at, because their addiction is a lifelong problem that we can't trust them to get out of. As dystopian as this may seem on the surface, I think the asylum solution I'm describing is a true act of compassion.
 
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Mars

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They should've attached another law to the bill...."Can't be drugged out/drunk in public or it's an automatic 10-30 days in prison......Or better yet, put them in a rehab facility.
 
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Amestafuu (Emeritus)

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They should've attached another law to the bill...."Can't be drugged out/drunk in public or it's an automatic 10-30 days in prison.
Idealism at it's finest. Majority of users are homeless. :laff:

The whole idea was to not criminalize addiction. Your idea still criminalizes addiction and nullifies the decriminalization bill :dead:
 

Mook

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All these drugs in America… if they really want to reduce drug usage, they’d figure out how to reduce the demand…do these issues stem from broken families? Depression? Unemployment? Too much promotion of drugs in the culture?

That's why it's not working. You need to attack their hopelessness.
 

CopiousX

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Yeah but they also throw people in rehab by force.
Beautiful. The choice aspect needs to be eliminated entirely.

We need to stop pretending that they are still logical people who can decide by themselves that they don't need rehab. It's ludicrous. If you OD even once, you need to go to a facility. You immediately should get the same legal status as a special needs kid cause you clearly lack personal agency .



My only disagreement here is on the release aspect after rehab.

I think it's time wasting to let them out when so few of them actually leave drugs behind. I just think most should stay their indefinitely in a place that doesn't even give them the option to access drugs. but such a place should be a space where they can still be productive and fulfilled human beings, not a penal colony.
 
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