Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
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Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
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Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#3Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#4This article has severe methodological errors. It fails to consider the Oregon stats in the context of other states. Oregon's change in OD rates have not been exceptional, and have more or less followed the trend of other states, while being greatly better compared to states like W. Virginia.
As always, states that are "tough on drugs" get a free pass regardless of how bad their outcomes are, and states that legalize it are scrutinized even when their outcomes are no worse.
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#5https://archive.is/rznQr
We've plainly seen over the past several decades that the War on Drugs is an abject failure. All it's done is increase incarceration rates (without solving the problems of drug use and addiction), and many people caught in the system are just drug users, not distributors/traffickers. This really doesn't help much of anything.
> State leaders have acknowledged faults with the policy’s implementation and enforcement measures.
And there you go, right there in the second paragraph.
> As Morse put it, “If you take away the criminal-justice system as a pathway that gets people into treatment, you need to think about what is going to replace it.”
And clearly they didn't do that well enough, or at least didn't follow through well enough on what needed to be done.
It's good to see reporting on this, because clearly "just decriminalizing" doesn't help, and can make things worse on some dimensions. And some measures to replace prison sentences likely work better than others, and it's good to see the ones that don't work so we can refine policies like this.
But let's not take this as failure of the idea of decriminalization.
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#6I was saddened to learn that Portugal slashed funding for their post decriminalization drug outreach programs. The shift from enforcement to treatment doesn't really work if you skip the treatment part.
After years of economic crisis, Portugal decentralized its drug oversight operation in 2012. A funding drop from 76 million euros ($82.7 million) to 16 million euros ($17.4 million) forced Portugal’s main institution to outsource work previously done by the state to nonprofit groups, including the street teams that engage with people who use drugs. The country is now moving to create a new institute aimed at reinvigorating its drug prevention programs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-dru...
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#7From the last time I drove through Oregon, it kind of felt like they had already done this.
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#8I always thought decriminalization was in some ways the worst of both worlds. On one hand, keeping the production and trade side illegal continues to perpetuate the underground culture and fund international cartels. Meanwhile their market base increases due to fewer people being afraid of being caught, the product quality is still completely unregulated. Users still need to stay embedded in an an unscrupulous underworld in order to maintain the connections necessary to obtain the product, increasing the chances of abuse and reducing their chances of getting help if they need it. Of course, it's nice not to send people to jail for small quantities, but failing to fully legitimize the market in these ways could cause a lot of other issues.
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#9> the first of its kind in any state, are now coming into view
Lets hope Oregon will be shining beacon of inclusivity for all drug users, anywhere in US! We should not rush into any conslusions for at least 30 years!!!
Re: Oregon decriminalized hard drugs – early results aren’t encouraging
#10I always thought decriminalization was in some ways the worst of both worlds. On one hand, keeping the production and trade side illegal continues to perpetuate the underground culture and fund international cartels. Meanwhile their market base increases due to fewer people being afraid of being caught, the product quality is still completely unregulated. Users still need to stay embedded in an an unscrupulous underw…
I'm not sure that's exactly true. I do agree with you that some people will start using because they lose the fear of being caught, though I'm not convinced this is as large a problem as you might think it is.
Either way, there are also undoubtedly people with substance abuse problems who are afraid to get help due to the possibility of incarceration. Removing that fear can lead to more people getting into treatment programs.