The Oregon Left has decriminalized drugs, and the results are predictably disastrous.
By 2020, 58 percent of Oregon voters will approve legislation that decriminalizes the hardest drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. If you are caught in small amounts of these drugs, the only penalty is a $100 fine. In other words, possession and use of heavy drugs in Oregon is the equivalent of a broken taillight.
But unlike the stoplight, it makes it easier for the state to lift a drug fine. All you have to do is call the health assessment helpline.
According to Fox News, the results have been disastrous for people and neighborhoods. Just 16 months after this method took effect, “overdose deaths have increased by 41% since 2020, reaching their highest peak of 1,069 in 2021.” And almost no one is cured, whereas providing treatment to people is the main benefit of the selection measure: “According to the Lund report, only 136 people started treatment after one year, less than 1% of the 110. Proposition helped. But the real number may be even less.”
The range of results goes beyond drug users:
Washington County, Oregon District Attorney Kevin Barnett said, “What we’re really seeing is that while drug possession is decriminalized, there has been an increase in property crimes as well as violent crimes.” Police in rural Oregon also told Fox News that they’re seeing more theft as people steal to feed their addictions.
Portland, the state’s largest city, broke the all-time record with 90 murders in 2021. Multnomah County Police attributed this to Proposition 110, which says there has been an increase in murders linked to gang drug wars.
“The streets of downtown Portland, Oregon, are like an open-air drug market,” Fox News added. Heavy drug use is “widespread and often found on city streets. Portland police crack down on homeless drug addicts who buy and use.”
Currently, of the 50 states, Oregon has the second highest per capita addiction rate. It’s unbelievable that one in five adults is addicted to drugs.
People – I mean, stupid people – always ask, “What’s the difference between drugs and alcohol?” they say. The differences are legion. In the beginning, it is more difficult to become addicted to alcohol. It is also a fact that alcohol is not always consumed only for intoxication. The sole purpose of any drug is to gain load.
Stigmas are important. Stigmas work. When you stigmatize something, people will start to believe it’s not bad or very dangerous. Well, if the government doesn’t stand on heroin or methamphetamine, why should I? It’s not that dangerous, is it?
And then, before you know it, these drugs take over and your life can be permanently ruined or changed as you fight this addiction for the rest of your life.
On the one hand, I agree with the new thinking behind addiction. We should at least rehabilitate before we go to jail. It breaks my heart for drug addicts. People who sincerely want to improve their lives should be given at least one chance to do so.
But if your heart is broken for drug addicts, that same heart must be angry with the government that is deliberately creating more drug addicts with the insane idea of decriminalization.
This is what happens when Democrats lead along with Democratic voters in this case by voting. These idiots worry about everything but the important, and the results are always the same: more deaths and lower quality of life.
Source: Breitbart
