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| -Great Cultural Revolution |
| Overdoses Up 700% After Oregon Decriminalizes Hard Street Drugs. Officials Mystified. |
| 2022-06-04 |
| [PJMedia] In November 2020, Oregon voters approved ballot measure 110, making Oregon the first state in the nation to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs. M110 made the possession of personal use amounts of hard street drugs like heroin or meth punishable by a citation of up to $100, and directed funding to drug treatment programs. The voters bought the argument that the state could better disburse resources to treatment rather than prosecuting offenders criminally. In addition, the citation and fine could be waived if the offender called a hotline that would offer a “health assessment.” Guess what happened next? Officials at the Oregon Health Authority testified to legislative committees this week about the results of the program. It isn’t good. According to the Daily Mail: Oregon’s first-in-the-nation scheme to decriminalize drugs and encourage those caught possessing them to seek medical help has been blighted with problems, officials admitted on Thursday – as one Republican politician said there had been a 700 percent in overdoses in her district in the last year. Of the 1,885 people who got tickets in the first year of the program, only 91 called the hotline. Of those who called, only a handful had any interest in getting treatment. According to an earlier report in January by Oregon Catalyst, of the 68 people who had called the hotline by that point, 49 expressed zero interest in getting help, and only 11 got connected to treatment services. Eleven. A report by OPB notes that the program comes with some hefty strings, with rural areas struggling to provide sufficient resources: Under the measure, providers applying for funds in different regions of the state, in many cases by county, must jointly form “Behavioral Health Resource Networks.” Each network must provide a range of services that includes needs screening, intervention planning, low-barrier substance use treatment, peer support, housing services, harm reduction and supported employment. Oregonians were sold a bill of goods when they approved Measure 110. In exchange for legalizing small amounts of hard street drugs, Oregon voters were assured that M110 would allocate significant funding for drug treatment, which has badly lagged in the state for years. Voters were told nonviolent drug users didn’t deserve to be locked up, and that marijuana tax money could pay for treatment. A report in April revealed the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) had gone AWOL. Treatment service providers were told when they applied for funds in December 2021 that OHA would make a decision by February 2022. By April, OHA was telling them to expect applications to be processed by the fall. Some non-profit treatment programs, relying on the promised grants, feared they might not stay open long enough to receive the funds. In legislative testimony this week, Oregon Health Authority officials admitted they had no idea how complex the program would be to implement. They, of course, requested higher staffing levels to deal with it. Of the $276 million they received in funding for drug treatment grants to non-profits, only $40 million had been disbursed. The Secretary of State’s office is conducting an audit of the implementation of Measure 110. |
| Posted by:DarthVader |
| #6 Drug deaths in the U.S.exceed murder by firearm by many times over and yet the left hammers firearms control every chance they get. IMHO, controlling firearms by a left-wing government is more about disarming law-abiding citizens that pose a threat to an out-of-control lawless government than it is about reducing crime and protecting citizens. Criminals and head cases will always find a way to obtain firearms. Control the border and you will reduce the number of drug related deaths. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2022-06-04 11:06 |
| #5 Voting is irrelevant to a drug addict unless they are paid. Addict drug participation does become more consistent after death. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2022-06-04 10:44 |
| #4 So will we see 700+% (1,885+) less liberal voters in Oregon in 2022 and 2024? You wish. Now that they are dead they get to vote twice. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2022-06-04 09:54 |
| #3 So will we see 700+% (1,885+) less liberal voters in Oregon in 2022 and 2024? ☺ |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2022-06-04 09:08 |
| #2 San Francisco Bay Area mother of fentanyl user warns city is enabling son's drug use |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2022-06-04 07:44 |
| #1 Yet another self-resolving societal problem. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2022-06-04 03:59 |