Oregon has recriminalized drug possession after overdoses skyrocket.

 

Drug dealers in Oregon. BBC/Getty.

Oregon has recriminalized drug possession after overdoses skyrockets. BBC. The law repeals Measure 110 that turned possession of drugs into a ticketed offense for $100. The new law will make drug possession of hard drugs into a misdemeanor punishable by probation and/or 180 days in jail. Measure 110 was viewed as a failure as overdoses increased after the decriminalization effort. Democrats blamed the lack of treatment options for the failure while the new law will offer treatment as an alternative to punishment. 

My Comment:

Oregon's experiment with drug decriminalization has failed. The Democrats are blaming a lack of treatment as the reason why, but I doubt that's the issue. A lot of these people don't want treatment and don't care about being better. All they care about is drugs and that's not something that can really change. 

Don't get me wrong, drug treatment can help people that actually do want to change. I do think that drug treatment programs should be available for people that care about their lives. But most of these addicts do not and forcing them into these programs isn't going to do much. 

And the damage this policy did was pretty obvious. The news media and politicians are focused on the overdoses, but in actuality much of the problem is the fact that these drug addicts were causing a ton of problems. Nobody wants to see a homeless person passed out in their doorway on the way to work. And these people were absolutely committing crimes to feed their habits, which were mostly not being caught. 

Sending these folks to jail at least gets them off the street and makes the lives of the people that have to deal with them a bit better. And there is a possibility that 180 days in jail will be enough to sober them up, assuming the jail can get a handle on drug smuggling in the prison. It won't solve the problem but it will make it more manageable. 

Much of the problem is the type of drugs that were being decriminalized. This isn't pot we are talking about, it's meth, opioids and cocaine. These drugs affect behavior a lot more than pot and with fentanyl and other opioids there is a very high chance of overdose. 

Does this mean that the Democrats are starting to come around to how destructive their policies are? Possibly. But the fact that the reason cited was overdoses and not the harm that was done to law abiding citizens makes me think they have learned nothing...