"Maybe, possibly, potentially we might have been wrong"


The Oregonian editorial board, who told us all to vote for drug decriminalization in Measure 110 in the fall of '20, is now having second thoughts. They ran an editorial on the subject the other day. It's not quite as wishy-washy as the "audit" report issued by the "vote" tattoo lady, but at best it's on the strong side of wishy.

The way the paper is spinning it now, Measure 110 can still work if a lot of things happen: The legislature rewrites it, we find a billion or so lying around for new facilities, people suddenly want to work with dangerous drug zombies, somebody in Portland dares to force a junkie in a tent to do something they don't want to do... in short, things that are never going to happen. If my aunt had testicles, she'd be my uncle.

I was laughing this editorial off, like so much coming from the milquetoast O suits, but then I came across one passage that rubbed me pretty hard the wrong way:

Certainly, the mistakes written into the measure leave a lot for the state to clean up. As audit manager Ian Green noted, hindsight shows that decriminalizing drug possession before treatment services were broadly available was not the right move. 

Spare me the "hindsight" bit, Grandma. Everybody with at least half a brain warned that putting the legalization cart before the treatment horse was going be a disaster. And that includes the ex-governor, John Kitzhaber, whom they used to call a public health genius. As blue as blue can be, even he wasn't liberal enough, or dumb enough, to buy into Measure 110.

Legislators and Kotek’s administration should recognize they have limited time to put the program on the right path. Because while it might be too soon to call it a failure now, that window is rapidly closing.

Wow, pass the pablum. It can still be turned around. Sure. And I might fork over good money to get past the Oregonian paywall someday.

Comments

  1. Nothing is worse that listening to a group of elite academics convince each other that the issue would be solved if they kept searching for an answer

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    Replies
    1. You wonder who funded the campaign. Probably the drug companies that peddle the needles and emergency overdose shots.

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    2. As Phil Knight said in supporting Kotek’s opponents -
      "One of the political cartoons after our legislative session had a person snorting cocaine out of a mountain of white," Knight told the New York Times on Saturday. "It said, ‘Which of these is illegal in Oregon?’ And the answer was the plastic straw.

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  2. Of course smug Know it all A-Holes have "hindsight"...

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  3. The chance to get rid of 110 died when Kotek was elected. If 110 makes you angry, check out what Mike has secretly has been up to. https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/01/25/multnomah-countys-top-prosecutor-is-betting-his-future-on-an-aggressive-program-designed-to-keep-violent-offenders-out-of-prison/
    Imagine having a child who was the victim of an assault and the perpetrator gets no jail time. Instead, they get Starbucks cards. Only in Portland. If you voted for Mike, 110 and/or Tina, take a bow. You have helped make this city the worst place to live in America.

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