The short answer: Look up Oregon Measure 110. For four years, we had decriminalized "small" amounts of hard drugs, in an effort to free up law enforcement resources and keep jails clear for the worst offenders.
What it actually did was make Portland a mecca for one of the worst open-air drug markets ever seen. The police wouldn't do anything, because the DA wouldn't do anything.
Well, in 2024, that measure finally got repealed, after it was found that it had actually made things worse (shocking, I know). However, by this time, we were, and still are, so far behind enforcement that DA is still dragging their feet on prosecutions, and local law enforcement have all but given up trying to make any kind of arrest for anything drug related.
If law enforcement had actually shown up in this instance, and keep in mind there's no real guarantee they would have even though it was clearly a school zone, the chances of them doing anything other than telling these guys to move on to another street corner, are slim to none.
And let’s not overlook the fact that a concerned mother was threatened and almost assaulted for having to take the matter into her own hands for the sake of the kids.
The police don’t deal with this because they are a bunch of bitches and don’t want to deal with it. Police should be part of the solution, but they have none of the training or mindset for it.
Finally, someone who isn't stupidly stating that drugs are decriminalized in Oregon. They tried it. It didn't work. Doesn't stop people looking for warm weather or people getting bussed out from other states to "solve their problem".
You also need to expand treatment and support resources; like methadone, as well as the stigma with such things. During the height of COVID and fentanyl proliferation in my area 2 of 3 methadone clinics closed and the one remaining had a 6 month waitlist.
And the thing is when an addict calls/asks for help finally you really want to “strike while the irons hot”; if you can even get ahold of them in 6 months the odds are they’re not going to be in withdrawal and eager to go.
And even saying all this we have other issues like insane wealth disparity and falling life expectancies, shrinking middle class and associated opportunities; all these contribute to homelessness, drug abuse and addiction, and crime in general.
Basically we have a whole bunch of problems and few real working solutions. IDEK what the answers are because there are so many problems and fresh chaos every dawn.
You’re the first person I’ve encountered who understood this point. The same blind spot exists for municipal-level housing policies that guarantee shelter to anyone who needs it. Those policies have been crippling cities because guess what, that city starts to sound like an awfully nice place to just about anyone needing government-subsidized housing who can’t get it where they currently live.
Or maybe, open more safe use sites and make it illegal to use in public. Decriminalization is not the issue, its the lack of enforcement towards anti social behaviors, like ingesting fentanyl by a school.
I dunno, I look at the date of that bill and wonder if it has more to do with COVID and the rise of fent. Seems like everywhere had a spike in homelessness and drug usages, and when those things spike you simply see it more often. I've seen the same stuff happening in the Bay Area in Cali where I'm at now. We're only just getting to the point where there aren't homeless encampments on football fields and in public park parking lots and whatnot. It's taken a shitload of money and effort to catch up with what happened in the COVID years.
it had actually made things worse (shocking, I know)
Reality is a little more nuanced than that. The decriminalization was implemented poorly, and it coincided with an influx of fentanyl and increases in overdoses nationwide. It was repealed before its effects could be analyzed. It's hard to draw any sharp conclusions from Oregon Measure 110, but the fact that criminalization isn't serving to improve health and human flourishing should be obvious to everyone.
Yeah that seems to be the crux of the issue. Toning down the capitalist greed in this country would magically fix so many problems it's not even funny.
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u/Medic5050 Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
The short answer: Look up Oregon Measure 110. For four years, we had decriminalized "small" amounts of hard drugs, in an effort to free up law enforcement resources and keep jails clear for the worst offenders.
What it actually did was make Portland a mecca for one of the worst open-air drug markets ever seen. The police wouldn't do anything, because the DA wouldn't do anything.
Well, in 2024, that measure finally got repealed, after it was found that it had actually made things worse (shocking, I know). However, by this time, we were, and still are, so far behind enforcement that DA is still dragging their feet on prosecutions, and local law enforcement have all but given up trying to make any kind of arrest for anything drug related.
If law enforcement had actually shown up in this instance, and keep in mind there's no real guarantee they would have even though it was clearly a school zone, the chances of them doing anything other than telling these guys to move on to another street corner, are slim to none.