Oregon Passes Bill To Decriminalize Cocaine, Meth, Heroin

[Copper Catcher]

This is unbelievable...


Oregon Legislature Passes Bill To Decriminalize Cocaine, Meth, And Heroin
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-1 ... and-heroin

[aloneibreak]

I still think western Oregon and Washington should just merge into kalifornia...

they're just "different" from the rest of the state in my experience

sorry Adam and Bill

[blackrabbit]

https://www.thefix.com/content/decrim-nation-portugal-ten-years-later

[Copper Catcher]

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/deb ... myths2.htm

[natsb88]

I generally think decriminalizing drugs is a good thing. Prohibition doesn't work. Throwing people in jail for victimless crimes costs taxpayers a lot of money (and makes privatized prisons a lot of money) while doing little to nothing to treat the addiction. People who wind up in trouble for possessing/using drugs come out even less employable (criminal record) and very likely to keep using drugs, meaning they will continue to receive public assistance and/or healthcare they can't pay for and/or keep cycling in and out of prison, which all continue to cost the taxpayer lots of money. The "war on drugs" isn't about protecting people, it's about power and money. It is not the government's job to protect people from themselves in the first place, plus government prohibition of drugs drives the activity underground where it gets much more violent.

That is not to say that it's ok to get high and drive, or get high and neglect/endanger your children, or otherwise interfere with anybody else's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am not a fan of any mind-altering substances, not even alcohol. But I can recognize that individuals, not the government, own their own bodies and can do what they want with them (so long as they take full responsibility for the consequences), and that drug prohibition and mandatory minimum sentencing means we fill up prisons with addicts and low-level neighborhood dealers, while actual thieves and batterers get out early due to overcrowding. That system works great for the law enforcement departments who get to seize offenders' assets and who use civil asset forfeiture to steal from people without ever charging them with a crime, for pharmaceutical companies who manufacture and sell similar/substitute products, for companies that build and maintain and manage and service prisons (and lobby congress), and for the politicians who get to cite statistics about job creation and "taking criminals off the street" (easy to do if you pass enough laws to make everybody a criminal). It doesn't work well for taxpayers, addicts, for non-violent drug users, or for their families.

[Copper Catcher]

Certain substances both illegal and legal are addictive and it is misnomer to say it is a victimless crimes...I’m in totally agreement that every individual should be held responsible for their actions. The questions is then how does one go about doing that? There has to be laws, and accepted behavior. Likewise there has to be enforcement of those laws with a penalty for those who break the law otherwise what is the point?

The medical community will say...”addiction is a complex disease of the brain and body that involves compulsive use of one or more substances despite serious health and social consequences. Addiction disrupts regions of the brain that are responsible for reward, motivation, learning, judgment and memory.” So if you are in that camp and believe addiction is a disease you need to ask yourself what caused it? The simple fact is that the individual made a choice. Heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer involve personal choices like diet, exercise, sun exposure, etc. A disease is what happens in the body as a result of those choices.

Folks make bad choices so what should be done about it? It is a very slippery slope to start legalizing everything and then justifying doing so by saying somehow the problem will decrease and or that there will be more money for treatment. If people have free access to more drugs then how is that going to help the problem? The government will surely have the answer in that it will see the need to regulate the sale and add taxes etc. How has legalized gambling with the lottery helped those who are addicted to gambling? Anyone that thinks if all drugs are deemed legal then the government is going magically then use monies they were spending now on jails or enforcing drug laws into treatment programs is just dreaming. Question: Should it be the government's responsibility to have government run programs to treat people for drug abuse? A 1991 article read: "Federal expenditures for drug treatment have risen by 341 percent since 1986 -- 20 percent faster than the total drug budget, 30 percent faster than spending for drug law enforcement and 700 percent faster than overall federal spending. This year, the federal government will spend more than $1.1 billion on treatment."
Source: http://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spen ... -treatment

If you legalize drugs then what about prostitution? Proponents of legalizing prostitution believe it would reduce crime, improve public health, increase tax revenue, help people out of poverty, get prostitutes off the streets, and allow consenting adults to make their own choices. They contend that prostitution is a victimless crime, especially in the 11 Nevada counties where it remains legal. Opponents believe that legalizing prostitution would lead to increases in sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, global human trafficking, and violent crime including rape and homicide. They contend that prostitution is inherently immoral, commercially exploitative, empowers the criminal underworld, and promotes the repression of women by men.

So goes the slippery slope to total decay and collapse...

[IdahoCopper]

Prostitution is illegal because it lowers the price of sex. Women hate prostitution because it competes with their desire to lock down a provider male with a marriage contract. Thirsty guys, without sexual options, will do anything to have sex, even marry in today's legal climate of easy divorce rape.

[johnbrickner]

Awsomely progressive!

Most all of the young people I work with don't want to grow up like their "stoner, crack head, alcoholic, etc." parent(s). However I note, poor economic times (like we've had for the last decade) tend to push the stats up for suicide and addictive behaviors.

Shows humans can have a weak side. Will opportunistic individuals take advantage of these weaknesses? Yes, and they will make it a business so it becomes socially acceptable in our free market economy. Morals and values be damned.

As far as speed of growth of the treatment industry, when businesses and issues like this start small (amount of money set aside) increases towards tend to show up as high percentages. $1.1 Billion?

Makes me want to ask how much will be spent this year on drug enforcement, arrests, judicial/legal system use, incarceration, asset forfeiture totals, grants and assistance to the states, aid to families due to arrest, and subsequent delinquencies for the same. My guess is the $1.1 Billion is a drop in the bucket, but I encourage to be proven wrong.

Regarding prostitution - make it a part of a (state) religion similar to the Greeks and Romans. Now has not-for-profit status. Think of all the good things we could do with the money? National condom day! Put them in candy bowls (free) in all state buildings. Private encouraged to participate. Leave them out and it becomes perpetual. Perhaps time to join the priesthood.

[Treetop]

I agree with copper catcher that it is not a victim less crime. However by my mindset that doesnt mean we should fight it. Fighting it doesnt make it go away, it just doesnt. It does increase usage somewhat, and violence significantly though. As well as empowering gangs and giving them a reason to exist en masse to begin with. I dont consider many very legal habits victimless crimes either, even if their dangers are not as directly appalling. You could for instance be a sedentary slob. Which means you are showing children and peers around you it is an okay lifestyle to watch TV all day, little drive, poor food choices. Heck we even have this "body positive" movement right now in younger generations. Which sure, be happy with what you are, but they take it to a place extremely life shortening life styles need to be socially accepted. No one thinks this way of other types of addicts or poor lifestyle choices.

Prostitution is a funny one to me. It is the only act I can think of that becomes illegal if money is involved. Unless of course you tape it for others to watch then suddenly its legal again.

My view is also shaped from my work with plants. There are many other compounds humans could use for drugs in their current form or when you isolate and extract large amounts of something. I even know of grasses with strong drugs in them. The same is true of household chems. I highly doubt anything outside of a top down complete dictatorship could ever stop humans from using drugs poorly.

Basically fighting drugs imo only makes the issues they cause worse, plus it is expensive. It is better imo to focus more on making sure they arent driving, or stealing etc to get their fix.

We shouldnt deny the fact where legal there are less issues with these things. I am a strong advocate of being able to make your own mistakes. I find it a slippery dangerous sloped to regulate others choices past very basic things.

[scyther]

They're doing it for the wrong reasons (BLM nonsense) but decriminalizing, legalizing, or simply reducing the penalties for drugs is definitely a good thing. People should have the right to do what they want with their own bodies. The government doesn't have the right to put people in jail for harming their own bodies, or selling substances that allow others to harm themselves. Because, indeed, it's a choice. If you don't like drugs, don't do drugs (I don't, other than alcohol).

And yes, prostitution should be 100% legal. Most women nowadays are de facto prostitutes anyway, receiving various financial favors in exchange for sex. From a Christian perspective (not that I think laws should be based on religion) prostitution isn't really any different from other types of fornication. If people are already having sex with anyone and everyone they can, who cares if they get paid for it?