https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-28/oregon-drug-decriminalisation-junkies-streets-fentanyl/103871432
I guess one way to solve the opioid crisis is to just let them all OD and die...
Very progressive.
I guess they didn't understand that you also need to reduce the consumption of drugs to have an effect like Portugal.
Quote:Oregon's drug decriminalisation experiment is being rolled back after three years of addicts shooting up in front of police
The goal of Measure 110 was to motivate people to engage in drug treatment programs and mirror the success of decriminalisation in Portugal, where there has been a 75 per cent drop in drug-related deaths between 2001 and 2022.
But in Oregon, many believe the measure has failed.
Fatal overdose deaths jumped from 280 in 2019 to 956 in 2022, and earlier this year state leaders declared a 90-day state of emergency in downtown Portland to address the public health and safety concerns brought on by the fentanyl epidemic.
The rise in popularity and harm caused by fentanyl across the United States is extraordinary.
Four years ago, 13 per cent of American overdose deaths were from fentanyl.
By the end of 2023, it accounted for nearly three-quarters of overdose deaths.
The state of Oregon saw the biggest proportional increase, with fentanyl deaths up more than 40 per cent in a year.
Officer Baer said fentanyl's explosion in popularity in Portland coincided with an increase in violence, including gun crime.
Amy Nichols, the owner of The Cheerful Tortoise bar, said her business had been badly impacted.
"When Measure 110 passed, with the drugs, it just became completely out of control," Ms Nichols told the ABC.
"With a pandemic happening and everything shut down. Portland just became complete lawlessness.
"Right now in Portland, you can't stand out [on the street] and drink a beer but you can go ahead and shoot heroin or smoke fentanyl, and it's fine.
"It's like an apocalypse.
"It's scary … walking around, you never know where you're going to step. There's needles everywhere."
She's since decided to run for an elected position as commissioner of Clackamas County.
"I know a lot of addicts in recovery and the one thing they all have is their rock-bottom story … you've got to hit rock bottom in order to get better," she said.
"We just enable, that's all we do here … you're passing out straws and foils to do the drugs — that's not healthy to an addict."
Officer Baer said it was important there was an investment in resources to get people the help they needed.
"The only thing that I've learned from this is if you're going to build a decriminalisation model, you actually have to build treatment centres … and build off-ramps for people from addiction before you just randomly decriminalise all drugs."
I guess one way to solve the opioid crisis is to just let them all OD and die...
Very progressive.
I guess they didn't understand that you also need to reduce the consumption of drugs to have an effect like Portugal.