Oregon could become 1st US state to decriminalize hard drugs

ABC ^ | 10-30-20 | ANDREW SELSKY

[dynachrome]

In what would be a first in the U.S., possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other hard drugs could be decriminalized in Oregon under a ballot measure that voters are deciding on in Tuesday’s election.

Instead of being arrested, going to trial and facing possible jail time, the users would have the option of paying $100 fines or attending new, free addiction recovery centers.

The centers would be funded by tax revenue from retail marijuana sales in the state that was the country's first to decriminalize marijuana possession.

[fireman15]

Not even the barrier of the Rocky Mountains can hold back the verdict of common sense.

You might need to brush up on your geography. Washington Oregon and California are all hundreds of miles from the Rocky Mountains.

If we conservatives want to crack Oregon, if we believe in liberty, we would be well advised to get on board now.

You might have a change of heart if you were one of those working to prevent idiots from dying from their decadent desire for the pleasures of hard drugs. These persons almost inevitably become wards of the state until the day the dealers who provide them with their illicit desires pass on a batch that is more powerful than is expected and their good for nothing companions leave them to die.

After decades of first hand experience dealing with individuals who have trashed their lives my reaction to those such as yourself who spout nonsense advocating for legalizing the use of hard drugs is more amusement than anger. You simply have no knowledge of that which you advocate and demonstrate only your ignorance. There is nothing conservative about enabling idiots to kill themselves.

[Nifster]

They don’t enforce any drug laws so it already is

People openly shoot up kn downtown Portland fir all to see

[nathanbedford]

You might need to brush up on your geography. Washington Oregon and California are all hundreds of miles from the Rocky Mountains.

They reach as far as Northwest Washington in the west and Northwest Wyoming in the east. In between, this section of the Rockies passes through parts of Montana, Oregon and Idaho. (https://www.google.com/search?q=are+there+Rocky+Mountains+in+Oregon%3F&rlz=1C1CHBF_enDE899DE899&oq=are+there+Rocky+Mountains+in+Oregon%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.5238j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) (Emphasis supplied)

You are the one who wants to be pedantic about this as though it matters what name one applies in passing to these excrescences. The point remains valid if they were the Alleghenies or the Himalayas.

You might have a change of heart if you were one of those working to prevent idiots from dying from their decadent desire for the pleasures of hard drugs.

You might have a change of heart if you were one of those working to save the lives of those mugged or to comfort the bereaved of those murdered.

After decades of first hand experience…

Decades of experience reveal that you have learned nothing. The people of Oregon and, indeed, the rest of the country are growing impatient with granting you decade after decade of failure and compounding misery.

You claim special knowledge and you allege ignorance but how many lives during how many decades must suffer to indulge your misbegotten compassion? How much corruption must we endure? How much disregard for the police, suspicion of corruption in our judiciary, distain for our border police? How many prisons must we fill? How many billions more must we squander? How many more of our liberties must we forfeit to this hopeless war?

When will you cease to move the societal costs from those who choose to indulge their addictions to those victims who are innocent?

When will you finally succumb to history?

[Bobalu]

you can still be burned at the stake for having a Trump sign in Oregon

A good tactic in such areas is to buy a box of MAGA bumper stickers and place them on the bumpers of 'select' vehicles.

Then sit back and watch the fun as libtards discover their cars all messed up by fellow libtard vandals.

It's a fair move....

[NonValueAdded]

There was a one-hour investigative report someone linked here a while ago. Can’t remember if it was about Seattle or Portland but it doesn’t matter since those two cities are in lock-step regarding their fixation about homelessness. Anyway, it compared their approach to homelessness with that of Rhode Island. Long story short, it is not a housing problem but a drug problem. RI gives them treatment while the progs give them a new place to shoot up and trash.

[Vision]

Just what those lunatics don't need.

[Getready]

I think they had a free hard drug usage zone in Amsterdam or some European city...but the drug trade got big at the periphery of the zone and spread into surrounding neighborhoods...and people were overdosing and dying in plain sight. Enlightened project was cancelled. Portland is doomed.

[NobleFree]

“3 or 4 of the tweekers conspired to give this girl a hot-shot.”

She wasn’t a ‘victim of drug use’ any more than someone who unknowingly eats deliberately poisoned food is a ‘victim of eating.’

[NobleFree]

“[[Who is the victim of drug use? ]]

“The kids of addicts”

Nonaddicted users and childless addicts - of alcohol or any other drug - victimize nobody with their use.

[NobleFree]

“[[Who is the victim of drug use? ]]

“The kids of addicts”

Nonaddicted users and childless addicts - of alcohol or any other drug - victimize nobody with their use.

[gundog]

What about her family? There was another girl hanging around that was rumored to be in line for the same treatment. I babysat her for quite a while before getting her out of town.

[americas.best.days...]

Mirroring my position on sanctuary cities, I don’t mind this at all.

Any “magnet” that draws undesirable citizens to a geographical area (far from me) is a positive. Sorry, not sorry.

[Twotone]

If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.

[NobleFree]

3 or 4 of the tweekers conspired to give this girl a hot-shot.

She wasn’t a ‘victim of drug use’ any more than someone who unknowingly eats deliberately poisoned food is a ‘victim of eating.’

What about her family?

Same answer. The girl and her family were victims of malicious contamination, not drug use.

[Getready]

No surge prob cause users dont obey the laws anyway. Drug deaths fell cause those who were gonna die already did. Arrests were down....since we dont arrest them anymore. I hetcha human misery...pilfering...panhandling..public garbage..ER visits...homelessness was up.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOL! (Re: Hunter)

What a freakin’ cash producing RACKET for the Industrial Complex ‘Recovery’ Machine!

I guess it’s not enough anymore to get the kids hooked on smokes and wine coolers - we’re going STRAIGHT to the hard stuff. Much faster turn-around time. *SPIT*

(Most of you know I lost a Nephew to a heroin overdose, and also a MARRIAGE to drug addiction; not mine; his.)

No sympathy from this quarter. Sorry. :(

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“Make rape and murder misdemeanors and offer relationship and anger counseling ... come to think of it, burglary with free personal finance courses.”

You are my kind of FReeper, tinyowl!

[gundog]

You think the tweekers would have behaved that way if their minds weren’ t warped by meth?

[tinyowl]

"Such as? Any class of persons not also victims of the use of the drug alcohol?"

So we should legalize domestic violence? Same class affected as booze, even smaller class though!

That's your argument? Add to the misery?

As I said, I understand the arguments. If you DON'T understand the arguments from the other side, and the practical legitimacy, then I think you are probably just a liberarian idealogue theorist virtue signalling to yourself and others.

Opiates by the way -> yes way worse than booze. Way more addictive, way more destructive, so way more cost to me.

Some things are beautiful in theory, but don't pass the real world test.

[fireman15]

I am glad that you are so adept at using Google. But lets review: in my first post I said, “On the Western side of the mountains enforcement against users has been basically nonexistent for years. So this is a nearly meaningless piece of legislation for Western Oregon... It really amounts to the Western side of the state trying to impose their “tolerant” liberal values on the law abiding Eastern side of the state.”

You replied, “Not even the barrier of the Rocky Mountains can hold back the verdict of common sense.”

The Cascades are the mountain range that divides Eastern Oregon from Western Oregon as well as Eastern Washington from Western Washington... The Rockies are hundreds of miles from the Cascades. The Rocky's had absolutely nothing to do with our conversation. For clarity my reply to you should have said Western Oregon, Washington, and California are all hundreds of miles from the Rocky Mountains. I apologize for that.

Rocky Mountains:

Cascade Mountains:

The point remains valid if they were the Alleghenies or the Himalayas.

No, Nathan I was not nit picking... and you made no point, you demonstrated only your ignorance. The Rocky Mountains had absolutely nothing to do with our discussion. We were talking about Western Oregon vs Eastern Oregon. Strangely enough after I posted, I thought to myself that my correction would go straight over your head. But the other points in my post went over your head as well, so I guess that it hardly mattered. Western Washington and Western Oregon are the overwhelmingly LIBERAL parts of the two states. Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon are the Conservative parts of the states. Your position is that the liberal morons in Portland and Seattle have more common sense than the conservatives on the Eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. Have you kept up on what has been going on in the past few months in Seattle and Portland?

How many lives during how many decades must suffer to indulge your misbegotten compassion? How much corruption must we endure? How much disregard for the police, suspicion of corruption in our judiciary, distain for our border police? How many prisons must we fill? How many billions more must we squander? How many more of our liberties must we forfeit to this hopeless war?

Cute, but what the hell? You are living in Lala Land. I told you in my first post that when I was working we typically went on an OD just about every day... when a more potent batch came through, we often went to several OD's in a day... and a lot of them were dead when we arrived. I also mentioned that the police typically did not accompany us on these calls and no one got arrested or charged that I can remember. The only ones that I am aware of who go to jail around here are the big time dealers who are responsible for many deaths and destroyed lives. They are typically pretty bad hombres. And it is a good thing that they are off the streets because they typically are not only selling drugs but they are also involved in all manner of other violent crimes, murder, and destruction of property. I did not mention that we also responded to our local jails frequently.

I enjoy your flowery comments and especially the picture at the bottom of your posts. Unfortunately so much of what you write is meaningless drivel largely because you do not seem to have the life experiences to back up your theoretical musings. To me it is seems obvious that most of your belief system has been installed by the leftist main stream media and Hollywood. So much of what you seem to believe does not exist in reality. The drug culture is extremely violent completely independent of efforts by law enforcement. The users at least in this area do not find themselves in any difficulty with law enforcement. I doubt that it is a whole lot different in most other parts of the country. Is known druggie, Hunter Biden worried about being imprisoned for his documented use and possession of crack, cocaine and meth?

Those you are advocating for here would slit you throat or shoot you in the head if you wandered into their enclave by mistake. Those trying to reign in their bad behavior are currently able to use laws against trafficking in illegal substances to help in their battles, which is good because 95% of the time the murders, violence and mayhem that they cause are not ever solved. I don't blame you for falling for the propaganda we are all inundated with everyday. And your lyrical diatribes are entertaining much of the time. But one day you are going to have to grow up.