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Blight, flight, and 'drug tourism': How decriminalization created blue-city problem
Washington Examiner ^ | May 27, 2023 06:00 AM | Breccan F. Thies, Investigative Reporter

Posted on 05/27/2023 9:51:36 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

The drug decriminalization wave that swept across America's most liberal cities has fallen short of its promises of improving drug addiction recovery and overdose deaths.

Beginning in the mid-2010s and making a significant uptick since 2020, drug decriminalization was sold by politicians and liberal activists as a way to combat substance-use disorder by treating it as a disease rather than a crime. The increase in 2020 was spurred by the activism following the murder of George Floyd, who had ingested both fentanyl and methamphetamine, the most prominent drugs found in overdose victims.

Major cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Baltimore, the District of Columbia, and St. Louis, have pursued decriminalization whether through local law or a district attorney's decision not to prosecute offenses.

The moves to decriminalize have been followed by increases in homelessness, crime, blight, and drug overdose deaths, leading some to rethink their political decisions. In March 2021, New York legalized marijuana, which even former Gov. Andrew Cuomo called a "disaster." Later that year, New York City became the first city in the country to open "experimental" safe consumption sites, and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed a bill legalizing the possession of hypodermic needles and syringes used to inject drugs.

San Francisco refuses to prosecute drug crimes and provides addicts with paraphernalia such as needles, metal heroin cookers, aluminum foil and straws to consume fentanyl, and crack pipes.

In July, Washington state will decriminalize all drug possession as lawmakers could not come to an agreement on criminal penalties, and many are looking to what has happened to neighbor Oregon to see what the Evergreen State's futur...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bluecitydrugs; drugabuse; drugaddiction

1 posted on 05/27/2023 9:51:36 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

[[ George Floyd, who had ingested both fentanyl and methamphetamine,]]

Who had way over the amount needed to kill someone- he was severely overdosed and dying- it’s just sad that the cops showed up at that time and were falsely blamed for his self inflicted death


2 posted on 05/27/2023 9:56:17 AM PDT by Bob434 (question )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Culling the herd, they used the pandemic to do this and obamacare


3 posted on 05/27/2023 9:57:45 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Never saw that coming. /s


4 posted on 05/27/2023 10:00:25 AM PDT by Spok (“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Decriminalizing drugs won’t solve the problem, it’ll only make it worse!


5 posted on 05/27/2023 10:08:31 AM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: No name given

They want to make it worse. They want so much chaos that we beg for totalitarian overlords to “protect” us.

Just like 98% of mass-shootings occur in “gun-free zones.”

They want gun-free zones so they have mass-shootings to demagogue against the Second Amendment.


6 posted on 05/27/2023 10:11:45 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is ████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████. FJB.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yes yes my precciousssss, decriminalize because no boundaries or borders will make life like Mordor. It’s FREEEEEEE!


7 posted on 05/27/2023 10:29:00 AM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
HamsterdamGood episode on the Wire.
8 posted on 05/27/2023 10:31:23 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The PTB don’t want addicts to get well or dealers to be deterred.

Decriminalization has created a booming industry of government nanny-state employees, non-profits, street outreach & social workers, not to mention billions for insurance companies that repeatedly cycle addicts thru multiple stints of “rehab.”


9 posted on 05/27/2023 10:45:23 AM PDT by mumblypeg ("Give me Stalin or St. Paul. I've seen the Future, brother; it is murder."--Leonard Cohen)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yep, gun free zones are just magnets for the mentality insane who want to end their lives and want to go out in a bang, literally.


10 posted on 05/27/2023 10:48:57 AM PDT by RedMonqey ("A republic, if you can keep it" Benjamybeyin Franklin.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The thing that was forgotten is that often going to court on drug charges was the only way some got put in a system that gave them the option of getting help. Sometimes it was part of probation other times part of a jail term or prison term.

Decriminalization also only makes sense if you have strict quality of life laws that prevent the large scale public use of drugs. We know that will never happen. Hello ACLU.

Decriminalization is not a bad idea. What is a bad idea is putting in place without taking steps to make sure it does not lead to what we see happening in these cities.


11 posted on 05/27/2023 11:29:50 AM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“unexpected” “no one could see this coming.”


12 posted on 05/27/2023 11:55:23 AM PDT by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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