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Originally Posted by btimbit
-We never stopped enforcing these laws, the problem has just outgrown available resources
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In the Oregon case, it does seem that enforcement took a step back by 75%.
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A survey of law-enforcement officers conducted by researchers at Portland State University found that, as of July 2022, officers were issuing an average of just 300 drug-possession tickets a month statewide, compared with 600 drug-possession arrests a month before Measure 110 took effect and close to 1,200 monthly arrests prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
“Focusing on these tickets even though they’ll be ineffective—it’s not a great use of your resources,” Sheriff Nate Sickler of Jackson County, in the rural southern part of the state, told me of his department’s approach.
Advocates have celebrated a plunge in arrests. “For reducing arrests of people of color, it’s been an overwhelming success,” says Mike Marshall, the director of Oregon Recovers. But critics say that sidelining law enforcement has made it harder to persuade some drug users to stop using. Sickler cited the example of drug-court programs, which multiple studies have shown to be highly effective, including in Jackson County. Use of such programs in the county has declined in the absence of criminal prosecution, Sickler said: “Without accountability or the ability to drive a better choice, these individuals are left to their own demise.”
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A sort of common saying is “the war on drugs failed”. I tend to look around now, and would suggest that whatever we’re currently doing is failing far worse.
Disadvantaged communities were absolutely being overcriminalized in the past, but the move to just letting it be a free for all has basically made downtown cores and public spaces unsafe and unusable by the rest of society.
Public space drug users should be arrested and (once sober, if competent) presented with voluntary treatment options. If they choose not to take them, they should be incarcerated to protect every non-substance abuser out there. If they are mentally ill, then again - compulsary treatment.
These actions would save a lot of lives. Addicts can’t make good choices for themselves. A compassionate society recognizes and responds to that.