In effect, Seattle is decriminalizing the use of hard drugs

Post by thedaemon » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 8:32 PM UTC

ndarwincorn wrote: post #162

coryrc wrote: post #105

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That's a big problem for those of us still here that would prefer enforcement; our fellow-minded voters have (probably rightly) chosen defect and left the city, rather than stay to vote for change. Suburb living also has twice the greenhouse gas impact as well.

Those of us still here that prefer empathy would rather you follow your 'fellow-minded' folks and just leave. Seattle's had this tension between the left and the liberals for a century. Traditionally you lived on the outskirts. You're welcome to go back if the city offends your sensibilities.

Post by malandrew » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 8:34 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #143

paggle wrote: post #122

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We need low cost low security jails for people who commit property crimes. Basically just wall off a few square miles and throw them in there left to their own devices.

Many prisons in central and South America are run like this: the prisoners are thrown into a contained environment without guards otherwise, the prisoners themselves (usually visit a gangs) organize the prison economy and otherwise keep the peace (bar for some occasional riots).

Post by 420codebro » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 8:41 PM UTC

anaisbetts wrote: post #347

lacker wrote: post #282

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I'm anti-incarceration for moral reasons There is also a middle ground, where you can think that drugs should generally be legalized, but incarcerating people for non-drug crimes is a good idea. The problem isn't really people doing drugs. It's people breaking into cars, damaging property left in public, trespassing, assaulting other people, leaving big public piles of trash, things that fall into the "harming other…

At the end of the day though, the people breaking into cars are usually doing so because they have no other reasonable means to sustain themselves, or they are compelled to do so because of drug addiction. The long-term _solution_, is to remove these obstacles . In other words, middle-class employed people who are safe in their environment don't really commit crimes - why would they? The best way to solve crime In Ge…

Post by vehementi » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 8:41 PM UTC

grawprog wrote: post #29

psychometry wrote: post #19

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Supervised consumption sites would go a long way toward fixing the needle problem.

We have safe injection sites up here in Vancouver, you still find used needles lying around everywhere, depending where you go, only you also find the small saline packs and disposable spoons from the injection sites lying around with the used needles. The police don't really seem to care. I've watched a couple of officers find a small pile of used needles at one of the skytrain stations, they laughed to each other s…

Post by xyzzyz » Fri, Aug 23, 2019, 8:44 PM UTC

williamstein wrote: post #270

opportune wrote: post #137

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I agree, when I lived in Seattle it was just... normal. There are more homeless people than in most other places but by and large there were no issues I ran into. I saw needles a couple times and was harassed by someone who was almost certainly schizophrenic, but that happens in all medium-large cities. Although I never experienced it and don't know many people who have, I will say that property crimes need to be pro…

I live in Seattle (Central District), and was harassed by a homeless person a half hour ago, had our bike stolen last week, saw a homeless person peeing 40 feet from my house an hour ago, and had three car break-ins and one car theft in the last year. All my neighbors have very similar experiences, and the above list is far from comprehensive for the last year. It's genuinely scary and disturbing living here, and I d…