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Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

drugpolicy.org

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Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#51
> Today, Oregon became the first state in the United States to decriminalize possession of small amounts of all drugs and greatly increase access to treatment, recovery, harm reduction and other services.

There are other states where drug possession is only a misdemeanor, e.g.:

https://apnews.com/article/0216054dc6cd453f8d83de8bbc84caeb

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2015/ACT/pa/pdf/2015PA-00002-R00HB-07...

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#53
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let these lobbies profit off the back of addicts and their families and their ruined lives. Nah, the next obvious step is to legalize them and have pure supplies of known purity and dosage distributed by the government at near-cost + tax to exclusively fund social programs and rehab. There's no need to bring profit into it. Prohibition doesn't work. We've seen it t…

Why would anyone enter rehab if the government is providing free, high-quality drugs?

Why would they need to?

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experimenting with people's lives is not a responsible way to experiment. No one is denying these drugs are harmful, yet Oregon is basically saying "go ahead, it's fine, use these drugs". Seeing what is happening with the Marijuana lobbies coming in and putting in billions in lobbying should scare everybody. We have big tobacco to look at for where this leads. The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let t…

People are going to use drugs regardless of legality. There has been great harm to individuals from ingesting substances of questionable purity. Legalizing cannabis has allowed adults that choose to consume get consistent quality and avoid sketchy circumstances when purchasing. As for society as a whole it costs less to help people that abuse drugs than it does to imprison all drug users. We should not punish adults…

" it costs less to help people that abuse drugs "

Even less if you leave the people who use drugs alone in their pleasures!

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experimenting with people's lives is not a responsible way to experiment. No one is denying these drugs are harmful, yet Oregon is basically saying "go ahead, it's fine, use these drugs". Seeing what is happening with the Marijuana lobbies coming in and putting in billions in lobbying should scare everybody. We have big tobacco to look at for where this leads. The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let t…

The way I think of it is, people will do drugs whether or not they’re legal. The current system is to throw drug users in jail, which has been proven to cost a lot of money and not do anything to rehabilitate the drug user. They need treatment, not jail time. This bill has greatly expanded access to treatment programs, which will help much more than incarceration ever could.

The english and the chinese want a word with you about that opium experiment they had running for a long time over there.

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#56

I really hope this leads to more research on the effect of psychedelics on treatment-resistant depression. People with depression suffer unimaginable anguish every day - we owe it to them to give them the best treatment options possible.

Right, psychedelics are really promising as a treatment.

Which I think makes it criminal that psychedelics are criminal.

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does drug use increase? Does crime increase? What impact does it have on the prison population and public health?

What happens with kids? I adopted a teen who was in the system for 10 years because parents were constantly stoned. Police had to bring kids home from school many times because The bio parents were so out of it.

I'm not sure putting the parents in prison would fix that or change it much in any way.

If parents are stone/ drunk so regularly they shouldn't parent, it's child neglect/ abuse regardless of whether the drugs are legal.

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#58
The not-homeless, not-drug-addict rest-of-society is already well on its way with its response...gated communities. No homeless, no open drug use...all protected by private property laws and private security. Get ready for more of them. It doesn't matter what laws you will pass, you don't get past the front gate unless your card scans.

In the end, the only people who will be forced to look at open drug use and homelessness will be people who can't afford to buy a unit in a SafeStreets(tm) community (YC Winter 25!).

edit since HN is rate-limiting me: my point is, you aren't going to be happy with the response everyone-else has to social-engineering legislation they don't agree with. If you don't want more inequality and social divisions, stop giving people a reason to build a moat.

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experimenting with people's lives is not a responsible way to experiment. No one is denying these drugs are harmful, yet Oregon is basically saying "go ahead, it's fine, use these drugs". Seeing what is happening with the Marijuana lobbies coming in and putting in billions in lobbying should scare everybody. We have big tobacco to look at for where this leads. The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let t…

There's a huge gulf between saying "X is fine to eat" and "we will put you in jail for owning X". Drinking bleach is a horrible idea, but is completely legal, and nobody wants to put bleach owners in jail.

There is no law against drinking bleach because it is uncontroversially bad for you

There have to be laws against LSD or MDMA because they are enormous fun, and very safe.

Re: Drug decriminalization in Oregon begins today

#60
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Experimenting with people's lives is not a responsible way to experiment. No one is denying these drugs are harmful, yet Oregon is basically saying "go ahead, it's fine, use these drugs". Seeing what is happening with the Marijuana lobbies coming in and putting in billions in lobbying should scare everybody. We have big tobacco to look at for where this leads. The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let t…

>The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let these lobbies profit off the back of addicts and their families and their ruined lives. Nah, the next obvious step is to legalize them and have pure supplies of known purity and dosage distributed by the government at near-cost + tax to exclusively fund social programs and rehab. There's no need to bring profit into it. Prohibition doesn't work. We've seen it t…

I don't think this works, relevant city journal article here:

https://www.city-journal.org/harm-reduction-san-francisco-ho...

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