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Oregon is the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-first-state-decriminalize-cocaine-heroin-measure-109/? fbclid=IwAR3nQS4F2Rz9Q_kI5hqXnyG6HY0_hyudF6Fr3fq6H
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That's a good development, I hope it works out as well as it has in other places. But a step in the right direction, imo.

It's time to legalize all drugs, and end the War on Drugs.

Originally posted by wxyz
It's time to legalize all drugs, and end the War on Drugs.

Hard? So like heroine or crack?


How on earth could that work out? What with the addiction related deaths. Just look at professional wrestling, there's a reason their average mortality is 40.

Originally posted by cdtm
Hard? So like heroine or crack?


How on earth could that work out? What with the addiction related deaths. Just look at professional wrestling, there's a reason their average mortality is 40.

There's a lot of ways it works, the first one is that putting an addict into prison for being an addict is immensely counterproductive, and almost ensures that they will not get clean and are on a worse trajectory than they were before. Decriminalizing it opens up the options for treatment opportunities.

Another point is that the decriminalization can also help in checking the quality of the drugs and giving a point of contact for social workers or healthcare professionals, for example if you go the route of a publicly run dispensary. That has the added benefit of decreasing criminal activity on the whole.

A third aspect that can't be understated is that by decriminalizing drugs some of their appeal to young disaffected youth is gone, making it less likely they will try it out of a sense of rebellion.

On the whole decriminalizing is a great step with only upsides, and no downsides, even for the hardest of drugs.

Good.

Originally posted by Artol
There's a lot of ways it works, the first one is that putting an addict into prison for being an addict is immensely counterproductive, and almost ensures that they will not get clean and are on a worse trajectory than they were before. Decriminalizing it opens up the options for treatment opportunities.

Another point is that the decriminalization can also help in checking the quality of the drugs and giving a point of contact for social workers or healthcare professionals, for example if you go the route of a publicly run dispensary. That has the added benefit of decreasing criminal activity on the whole.

A third aspect that can't be understated is that by decriminalizing drugs some of their appeal to young disaffected youth is gone, making it less likely they will try it out of a sense of rebellion.

On the whole decriminalizing is a great step with only upsides, and no downsides, even for the hardest of drugs. Well said

Originally posted by Artol
There's a lot of ways it works, the first one is that putting an addict into prison for being an addict is immensely counterproductive, and almost ensures that they will not get clean and are on a worse trajectory than they were before. Decriminalizing it opens up the options for treatment opportunities.

Another point is that the decriminalization can also help in checking the quality of the drugs and giving a point of contact for social workers or healthcare professionals, for example if you go the route of a publicly run dispensary. That has the added benefit of decreasing criminal activity on the whole.

A third aspect that can't be understated is that by decriminalizing drugs some of their appeal to young disaffected youth is gone, making it less likely they will try it out of a sense of rebellion.

On the whole decriminalizing is a great step with only upsides, and no downsides, even for the hardest of drugs.


So is treatment mandatory?


Wondering if being imprisoned for skipping out on sessions is a loophole. And if not, how they could give any teeth to treatment options, and prevent people from just ODing, as they almost certainly will with the hardest stuff.

Originally posted by cdtm
So is treatment mandatory?


Wondering if being imprisoned for skipping out on sessions is a loophole. And if not, how they could give any teeth to treatment options, and prevent people from just ODing, as they almost certainly will with the hardest stuff.


"The Oregon drug initiative will allow people arrested with small amounts of hard drugs to avoid going to trial, and possible jail time, by paying a $100 fine and attending an addiction recovery program. The treatment centers will be funded by revenues from legalized marijuana, which was approved in Oregon several years ago."


And of course there will be "loopholes" and of course people will still OD. The question is really will more people OD than they do now, and I think that's pretty unlikely, it'll probably be the same amount or less, and there's all the other benefits. That's why it is an improvement over the current situation.

Originally posted by wxyz
It's time to legalize all drugs, and end the War on Drugs.

And put 1/10 the money invested in the Drug War into drug rehab programs. lol...watch the drug related violence sharply drops. WEEE!