Oregon decriminalized hard drugs. It isn’t working

[F*ckthemkids]

Well then put them in a rehab facility for 30 days

Rehabs are largely privately funded. You gonna bill the taxpayer 10k for 30 days of rehab?

 

[Marks]

Americans don't do moderation in any area. Just decriminalizing wasn't gonna cut it here. If you get caught with hard shyt, or over a certain amount in Portugal they fine you and send you to rehab something like that.

 

[Piff Perkins]

That WSJ post says that the "fundamental problem" is that the lack of jail time as a threat is no longer there to convince people to seek help but...since when has the fear of jail time ever stopped drug addicts from doing/seeking drugs? Seems like the real problem is one of optics and comfortability: people don't want to see homeless or strung out people using drugs openly, and they'll support anything that gets the problem out of their sight. If drug addicts were simply using and dying completely out of sight, while not seeking help, people would say "the law worked."

In short it's tied to the overall problem of homelessness and normal people getting uncomfortable glances at disorder. I'm not sure how to fix that either.

 

[Paper Boi]

wall street journal is a conservative rag

 

[bnew]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/

“These days in Portugal, it is forbidden to smoke tobacco outside a school or a hospital. It is forbidden to advertise ice cream and sugar candies. And yet, it is allowed for [people] to be there, injecting drugs,” said Rui Moreira, Porto’s mayor. “We’ve normalized it.”

thats where they fukked up, i don't know if they have public intoxication laws but no one should be visibly high or getting high in public.

Other countries have moved to channel drug offenses out of the penal system too. But none in Europe institutionalized that route more than Portugal. Within a few years, HIV transmission rates via syringes — one the biggest arguments for decriminalization — had plummeted. From 2000 to 2008, prison populations fell by 16.5 percent. Overdose rates dropped as public funds flowed from jails to rehabilitation. There was no evidence of a feared surge in use.

“None of the parade of horrors that decriminalization opponents in Portugal predicted, and that decriminalization opponents around the world typically invoke, has come to pass,” a landmark Cato Institute report stated in 2009.

the public consumption problem can be addressed with more drug-use centers.

the real underlying problem has yet to be addressed, why people use drugs and stopping organized crime from profiting from the sales of drugs

 

[bnew]

That WSJ post says that the "fundamental problem" is that the lack of jail time as a threat is no longer there to convince people to seek help but...since when has the fear of jail time ever stopped drug addicts from doing/seeking drugs? Seems like the real problem is one of optics and comfortability: people don't want to see homeless or strung out people using drugs openly, and they'll support anything that gets the problem out of their sight. If drug addicts were simply using and dying completely out of sight, while not seeking help, people would say "the law worked."

In short it's tied to the overall problem of homelessness and normal people getting uncomfortable glances at disorder. I'm not sure how to fix that either.

housing first policy and this..

In the interest of pragmatism when dealing with addicts who are into hard drugs, I think the government should supply those drugs for free and at a government owned facility. A facility or compound with nurses, security guards and drug counselors on site. Prohibition gave rise to organized crime and the drug war just amplified it 1000 fold across the world destabilizing countries by corrupting governments. The proceeds from the illegal drug trade allows criminals to reinvest into other criminal activities like sex trafficking, arms dealing and et cetera.

the government buying property and having drug treatment centers every 2-4 miles where addicts can get their fix is way cheaper than the current price tag of the war on drugs. There'd be less prostitution if addicts didn't have to sell their bodies to earn money for their next fix which would reduce the number of std transmissions. There'd be less violent crime, such as armed robbery, assaults, break-ins and murders if addicts didn't have to pay for their next drug fix. fewer crimes means fewer traumatized victims and property damage. a gradually reduced war on drugs in it's current form would greatly reduce police powers. fewer stop-and-frisk, reduce search and seizures, put an end to civil forfeitures by police. The police have no reason to remain militarized if there isn't a war on drugs.

Every school should have a drug awareness class that shows the gory downsides of drug use/abuse. I'm talking about images showing what it does to the body and what it does to your various organs. The youth should be armed with this info so should they decide to use hard drugs such as crack, meth etc. they know exactly what they're getting into. people have to accept not everyone can be saved and our current method of wack-a-mole dealing with users and dealers harms everyone.

The government should hire the chemists or herbalists to manufacture the drugs, the nurses to dispense it and the security to ensure thats everyone on-site is safe. i wouldn't want high individuals walking around in public or operating a vehicle.

i think the public at large would feel immense relief if addicts were out of sight and out of mind.

no more billions of dollars every year being funneled to various criminal organizations around the world because the competition(the government) is giving away product for free. theres no incentive to manufacture if no one is buying. There'd be fewer gang turf wars which always end up with innocent bystanders becoming victims.

i think if we had comprehensive drug awareness and drug treatment programs in addition to the free drugs, we'd finally put an end to the war on drugs.

if society wants to address this problem in a way that gets significant positive results then it needs to be with multiple prong strategies since we didn't get to this point with just one or two bad policies.

 

[Mars]

Rehabs are largely privately funded. You gonna bill the taxpayer 10k for 30 days of rehab?

It clearly says in the OP that Oregon has "new state-funded rehabilitation programs".........Put them in those programs and see what happens.....As long as they are off the streets and not burdening the community...What other option is there?.........Recriminalizing it and sending them to jail will cost the taxpayer money and feed the Prison Industrial System.

 

[mbewane]

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?

As per usual they act on the consequences and not the causes then act surprised that the same causes create the same consequences

 

[bnew]

https://archive.is/41MGl

https://archive.is/vQfT1

 

[CarltonJunior]

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?

I feel like the only thing you mentioned that might be fixable by the government/state is unemployment. Those other factors seem out of their control

 

[CrimsonTider]

Is it a decriminalization issue or a housing and not handling it like a health issue?

You can't just decriminalize hard drugs and walk away. The idea is to channel the criminalization budgets into health and treatment.

It’s a fentanyl issue.

 

[CarltonJunior]

Find out the WHY ppl are taking drugs and then you can begin to try to handle the issue.

I think we all know why

But no one has been able to create a counter in all these years

 

[Depreciating Asset]

Rehabs are largely privately funded. You gonna bill the taxpayer 10k for 30 days of rehab?

Doesn't prison cost $60k a year? This would increase costs in the short term but hopefully reduce costs in the long term. But taxpayers aren't rational so maybe that's your point.

 

[Vandelay]

No solution is ever going to be perfect, but it never made sense to have hard drugs illegal, because you can make almost anything a "hard drug". Punish the behavior associated with a "hard drug". Just letting folks roam free from repercussions associated with hard drugs was always going to be a dumb idea.

Shift the funding to health and rehab. Make public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and crime committed while intoxicated punishable. They do it for alcohol; do it for everything else under the sun. I know a large amount are homeless, but usually the habit starts before they are homeless. You have to attack it both ways; the present situation and upstream before it becomes a chronic problem; because habitual hard drug usage is usually a mental health and quality of life issue.

 

[bnew]

Rehabs are largely privately funded. You gonna bill the taxpayer 10k for 30 days of rehab?

a lot of the costs can be reduced by removing the profit motive and making it a government owned institution like many prisons are.