Oregon's drug decriminalization effort a 'tragedy'

Portugal did the same thing 20 yrs ago, but I think the difference is that in US, drug users from other States are drawn to Oregon now that its the only State that has done thing. 1 in 5 citizens being drug users is a very high number.

I know someone who moved to Oregon for the nature, but has now moved away from there due to issues they are having there.

I believe it was on the ballot and the citizens voted it into law. Not a "leftist experiment".

 

In 2016, approximately 20.1 million people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder (SUD) related to their use of alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year,1 including 15.1 million people who had an alcohol use disorder and 7.4 million people who had an illicit drug use disorder. Among those who had an illicit drug use disorder, the most common disorder was for marijuana (4.0 million people). An estimated 2.1 million people had an opioid use disorder, which includes 1.8 million people with a prescription pain reliever use disorder and 0.6 million people with a heroin use disorder.



This national report summarizes key findings from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) for indicators of substance use and mental health among people aged 12 years old or older in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States. Results are provided for the overall category of individuals aged 12 or older as well as by age subgroups. The NSDUH questionnaire underwent a partial redesign in 2015 to improve the quality of the NSDUH data and to address the changing needs of policymakers and researchers. For measures that started a new baseline in 2015, estimates are discussed only for 2016.
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2016/NSDUH-FFR1-2016.htm

 

The effects of good parenting don't go away because a person becomes of legal age.

 

I moved away from Oregon for training and never went back, though I tried at one point but the jobs are in California. I still like the people there better - more friendly, more nature, and just feels more like home.

 

I wonder if overdoses elsewhere have reduced due to migration of drug users to Oregon.

 

do addicts get legally prescribed heroin, or morphine, oxycodone?..the POINT is nobody is getting clean pharmaceutical grade drugs, it is very, very hard for the average person to separate a century of anti-drug hysterical mythology from reality....when drugs are proscribed the price goes sky high compared to cost of manufacture, that drives the criminal element into distribution...i have lived this whole life style and work within the field of recovery now..when one refers to homeless addicts, those are homeless after years of addiction and holding good jobs many times ....also after years of working with recovered people i can tell you many have mental health issues of one variety or another that contributes to NOT being able to stay sober for a length of time as well

 

Read Measure 110. Addicts who get fined for public drug use are getting off with a $100 misdemeanor, a mere handslap as it is....

In order for their ticket to be dismissed they must call a drug hotline and get themselves into treatment. The money for treatment is being funded by the "legal marijuana" growers' taxes to the state. Seems like a great idea, right?
Not so fast... People aren't calling. In fact, drug use ods, and drug deaths have increased in the last year or so since Measure 110 went into effect.

The Measure does decriminalize drug use and yet, it has failed because deaths, overdozes and crime are astronomically up, and this happened within the period of a year or so...

 

No doubt! Have you been there lately? Portland, Eugene, Salem, Grants Pass and other cities are importing crime, addiction, poverty. Decriminalizing drug use is the magnet.

 

I suppose so, and after that you have to worry about being asked to do a random test. Employers do that too.

I think its a nice State, except for Portland. Lot of natural beauty, and things to do in the wild.

 

what do you care?...ww2 was won by amphetamine fueled solders and factory workers, drugs were all over the place in the 50s and 60s and even 70s...the crackdown on pharmaceuticals enabled the rise of
bathtub" bootleg junk and MORE DEATH ...there has never been any drop in demand despite the strictest laws...mankind has taken mind altering drugs for thousands of years

 

I moved on and started my own company and refused to pee for a job(how humiliating). My drug test was the employee had to know how many roaches were in a joint.

 

Yeah, it went up everywhere else too. Covid happened.

 

I just might have to visit Portland then.

 

You're blaming Covid for drug overdoses everywhere? It would probably make more sense if you blamed opioids and fetanyl for the increase in drug deaths.

 

That may be about to change.

Portland, Oregon, to vote on major government overhaul (msn.com)

 

lol, the social conditions created by the covid pandemic. But it's enough to counter the premise of the thread that the rise in drug use was national, not just in Oregon.

 

You're deflecting off topic. The thread is about Oregon's dismal attempt to decriminalize illegal drug use.

 

Not at all. If you want to claim that the rise in drug overdoses in Oregon was due to Oregon's policy of decriminalization, you would need to show that this didn't happen in other similar places that did not decriminalize drugs, at a bare minimum. I mean, a real analysis is much more complicated, but we're limited by not being statisticians. The reality is that it DID rise at the same time in the rest of the country. The rest of the country did not decriminalize drugs. Therefore, you cannot claim that the rise in drug overdoses in Oregon is due to decriminalization, at least not without a much more sophisticated multiple regression model or the like. The factor of whether people moved there because of decriminalization is also an interesting thing to investigate.

 

Oregon remains in a drug abuse crisis and it's getting worse. The legislation proves to be a dismal failure when it hasn't improved lives or communities in Oregon.

You can erect strawman arguments all day long and it won't change the facts. Decriminalizing drug use has proved to be a dismal social experiment in blue state Oregon.

Source:
Oregon’s drug decriminalization pioneering effort hasn’t led many to seek help, as backers said it would - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)

 

do they allow alcohol, much worse imo

it's the testing that ruins lives, that gets people fired, not the marijuana... unless they go to work high

if there was a test to see if you drank alcohol in the last month, that would do the same

 

everyone I have known that is hardcore anti marijuana are lazy and worthless... the people that just choose not to partake aren't bad

seriously though, hardcore addiction is bad, even if it's video games, alcohol, ect.....

everything in moderation

 

I'm not sure how I can make it more clear to you. Drug abuse rose everywhere. It wasn't just Oregon. Therefore the bad numbers from Oregon mean exactly nothing about the policy, except I suppose you can assert that decrimininalization wasn't some kind of silver bullet to solve the drug problem, but that's not what decriminalization is for. It's to not waste time and money on imprisoning people only for using drugs. It's a good thing, but not a panacea for drug problems in general.

 

remember, the abuse is there legal or not, just one makes criminals of those that did not abuse

 

exactly, our business is losing the chance to hire a lot of good people for no reason, not smart

they should fire people under the influence on the job, that is it

 

Stop trying. I'm not interested in debating your deflections.