To Revive Portland, Officials Seek to Recriminalize Public Drug Use
To Revive Portland, Officials Seek to Recriminalize Public Drug Use
State and local leaders are proposing to roll back part of the nation’s pioneering drug decriminalization law and step up police enforcement.
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
Being able to throw undesirables in jail is the solution we all need right now! /s
Sometimes theres a reason why they're undesirable. And even if there isnt, if you want people to walk around downtown, you have make downtown not undesirable. Part of the walkable cities bit
Perhaps portland shouldn't deny housing support based just on drug use. So that they actually have a way off the streets.
”… some people lying motionless near the street and others exhibiting clear signs of mental illness …” Yeah, I don’t think jail or prison is the right place to get the help they need.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ms. Kotek said officials hoped to restore a sense of safety for both visitors and workers in the city’s beleaguered urban core, which has seen an exodus of key retail outlets, including REI, an institution in the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon voters in 2020 approved the nation’s first law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of hard drugs, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines.
In the meantime, cities around the country have been struggling to manage both widespread homelessness and an overdose crisis spurred by the rapid spread of fentanyl, a particularly addictive drug that is both cheap and deadly.
Tera Hurst, the executive director of the nonprofit Health Justice Recovery Alliance, said the focus should be on providing people access to services.
The arrival of fentanyl and a potent new methamphetamine has brought new challenges with Oregon’s more open drug policies, including people dealing with deeper addiction and mental health struggles than before, said Dr. Andy Mendenhall, the president and C.E.O.
Tents cover the sidewalks in some places, with some people lying motionless near the street and others exhibiting clear signs of mental illness, a scene that Mr. Mendenhall said can leave visitors feeling unsafe.
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It's already illegal to drink in public, and Marijuana use is still illegal in public after being legalized. How is public drug use legal of drugs that are decriminalized, not legalized? I'm guessing it's not. And if it's already not legal to use in public, then what the fuck is changing and why? Possession illegal again? Because that worked so fucking well.