View Full Version : Decriminalization of drugs.....
gimmethesimplelife
4-9-23, 4:44pm
Has not went over well in Portland or Seattle. What is the answer to the plague of highly cheap and highly addictive fentanyl pouring across US borders? I am completely against the drug war BUT decriminalization is not working well in the Pacific Northwest.
Does anyone see a viable solution to the drug issues faced by the US? Rob
I think drugs are similar to guns. There are people who WANT them regardless of cost or danger to others or themselves. There are others who will provide to this market regardless of the danger to themselves or others.
I cannot think of a solution until something is developed to prevent any addiction or to make the user uncomfortable and not a high. I do agree with needle exchanges and naloxone. But these are only helping not curing the Russian Roulette of drug use currently with the fentanyl coming in.
littlebittybobby
4-9-23, 6:14pm
Okay--The phrase covers a lot of territory. What drugs? What decriminalization? Probably, the fentanyl crisis is something that is a natural response. You have people who just can't cope with life using a drug that causes the cessation of life. Maybe they are better off dead. See? Hope that helps you some.
I suppose I could google it and dig into it, but I'm not familiar with why it's not working in the PNW. It seems like fentanyl is the drug of most concern. Here they are considering safe injection sites that would supply clean needles, injections with medical supervision, fentanyl test strips, and referrals for counselling. But I assume those drugs would still be illegal and the injection sites would not supply any drugs. It's sort of like the homeless issue in some ways where the best answers people can come up without throwing everyone in jail just don't seem to help all that much.
Safe injection sites don't work because the addicts shoot up as soon as they get the drug and do not want to wait to get high until they can get to the site.
Nonaddictive drugs should be legalized.
Before my BIL died from a Fentanyl overdose, he routinely visited a local safe injection site to collect his daily allotment of needles and the occasional Narcan, then returned home to shoot up at his leisure. I believe the site simply made it easier for him to kill himself.
I also believe that the legalization of narcotics would do the same for anyone foolish enough to go down that road, but then again, maybe that would eventually take care of the problem. It seems to me that anyone making it easier for individuals to engage in the usage of narcotics is complicit in the deaths that follow.
ToomuchStuff
4-10-23, 3:06am
If there was a viable solution, then there wouldn't be a problem.
If drug users were cited for crimes they commit while under the influence, legalization might work, but that's certainly not happening in the PNW.
ApatheticNoMore
4-10-23, 1:14pm
Is fentanyl legal in the Pacific Northwest? Because I suspect legalization AND regulation would LOWER death rates. Much of the deaths due to fentanyl are due to contaminated product I believe (I may be confusing it with another drug though).
P.S. it seems I might be wrong and it's other drugs being laced with fentanyl leading to death. At any rate if a significant # of people are dying of contaminated drugs because they are contaminated, that's an argument for legalization and regulation.
If drug users were cited for crimes they commit while under the influence, legalization might work, but that's certainly not happening in the PNW.
Seattle has decriminalized crime.
Seattle has decriminalized crime.
Portland too, as far as I can tell.
Portuguese John Here
4-16-23, 6:51am
Portugal was the first to do so, back in the day, after the revolution, heroin started to get inside our borders and killing so much people.
The decriminalization alone doesn't work. We had centers to take care of these people, putting people in jail wouldn't solve anything.
Decriminalization without these health care centers, free health care centers, is just saying: Go die, we don't put you in jail for it.
This police was just to tell drugs addicts that they can come for help, and they won't be in trouble, they'll be helped.
rosarugosa
4-17-23, 6:32am
Portugal was the first to do so, back in the day, after the revolution, heroin started to get inside our borders and killing so much people.
The decriminalization alone doesn't work. We had centers to take care of these people, putting people in jail wouldn't solve anything.
Decriminalization without these health care centers, free health care centers, is just saying: Go die, we don't put you in jail for it.
This police was just to tell drugs addicts that they can come for help, and they won't be in trouble, they'll be helped.
How did that work out, John? Would you say it was a successful approach?
Simplemind
4-19-23, 12:59pm
I try to keep a positive outlook that Portland will one day soon pull out of the spiral but it is getting harder. I used to love carefree, fun and funky Portland. I've been here all my life. I used to work downtown and loved all it had to offer. The amount of unhoused population is staggering. The amount of resources that they draw is staggering. I now live in a suburb of Portland and love our home and property but yikes, when it comes time to downsize I will not be staying within Multnomah County. Emergency services are imploding. It is hard to get through on 911 and hold times are long. There are many many nights that it is not possible to get an ambulance because they are all tied up, usually with overdose cases. If you do get one it may be on divert until a space opens up in an ER. The PD's are basically only taking priority calls especially in the evening. The DA is prosecuting much because we have a huge shortage of public defenders. I could go on and on. Three miles away over the county line and I would have totally different circumstances. Not perfect by any means but not as bad as Multnomah. I still work with Police/Fire/EMS through my volunteer position on a crisis response team and everybody is totally tapped out.
If I ever return to Oregon, it will probably be to Beaverton, where they seem to be on top of things.
littlebittybobby
4-19-23, 4:47pm
Okay---what's happened to Portland is a model of what happens when you have a massive influx of cross-country migration to a place that has gained an anything-goes reputation. But yeah--the people who move there are looking for an easy life, where they don't have to do much or abide by rules to get by. See? So anyway--those demmacratt policy makers have a first hand up close example of WHY this country should not have open borders, too. But, I don't think they'll get it, as long as they get elected on an "I'm a weirdo" platform. See? Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee.
Portuguese John Here
4-20-23, 8:22am
How did that work out, John? Would you say it was a successful approach?
Drugs-related deaths are blow EU average since implemented;
Less prisoners on drug related crimes, from 40% to 15%
Rates of drug use below EU average
HIV and Hepatitis are lower than EU average
1% of the population was heroin addicted, the larges rates of HIV infection
in Europe. Nowadays, you remain a drug addict by choice.
rosarugosa
4-21-23, 6:31am
Drugs-related deaths are blow EU average since implemented;
Less prisoners on drug related crimes, from 40% to 15%
Rates of drug use below EU average
HIV and Hepatitis are lower than EU average
1% of the population was heroin addicted, the larges rates of HIV infection
in Europe. Nowadays, you remain a drug addict by choice.
That's great. Thanks for your response!
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