Measure 110 is killing teenagers


Here is a scathing and frightening report, from people who know what they're talking about. regarding drug addiction among teenagers in Oregon. This is Killer Kate's Oregon. A dangerously misguided and mismanaged place.

When it comes to drug use, Oregon holds an ugly distinction: Its rate of teenagers killed by overdose is growing faster than in any other state....

Fentanyl overdoses began to surge in Oregon in 2019, but three years passed before the state offered school districts a way to educate students about the dangers and prevalence of the drug. Even now, neither of the state agencies that put together the fentanyl tool kit — the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Education — are tracking which districts opt to use it....

In 2017, there were 144 treatment beds for adolescents struggling with addiction across the state. By 2020, there were 100. Last April, the number dropped to its lowest with 13, according to data kept by the Oregon Health Authority....

Under Measure 110, people younger than 18 caught with hard drugs can no longer be arrested and diverted into treatment. Meanwhile, another law passed in 2021 eliminated fines and fees charged to youths in the justice system, including those caught with meth, fentanyl or other hard drugs. 

Because of this, “heroin or cocaine actually have significantly less consequences than marijuana and alcohol right now in our statutes,” said Torri Lynn, the director of Linn County’s Juvenile Department. While kids can potentially lose their driver’s license if they have a second court referral for alcohol or cannabis possession, there’s no consequence for harder substances....

Read the whole thing. And hang your head in shame if you live here.

Meanwhile, T. Kohoutek has put the head bean counter in charge of the state health department for the time being, while they see if they can fnd somebody truly qualified who will last more than eight weeks on the job. The previous guy was from the building permit department. Maybe that explains some things.

Comments

  1. I don’t think Kate Brown was a great governor by any means but what exactly did she have to do with a ballot measure passed by the voters?

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  2. It was her job to administer it in a way that would not result in hundreds, if not thousands, of needless deaths. She put a bozo in charge, and together they failed miserably.

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    1. Fair enough. She did fail miserably on that front. Still, as I recall, the “Killer Kate” name came from her Covid response. Of her many failings I don’t think Covid response was one of them. She tried to reopen schools ASAP after the vaccine rolled out and in hindsight I think that was a smart decision. Oregon’s Covid infection and death rates were among the best in the country.

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    2. She vaccinated healthy 20-something gym teachers ahead of 90-year-old people. That was atrocious.

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    3. The roll-out of the Covid vaccine was infuriating to watch unfold in real time. Remember the 30-member equity committee charged with coming up with a plan to distribute the shots? Meanwhile the well-connected rushed to the front of the line to get theirs. I myself waited patiently for my turn, but after a few weeks of watching my friends all get the jab, I jumped the line myself. What a truly awful failure.

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  3. Kate Brown, Tina Kotek, and the current legislature could have worked - and still can work - to pass a law repealing M110. Instead, they threw up their hands and said, "The voters have spoken." Kate Brown could have appointed an OHA head who would've appointed competent members of the M110 committee instead of members of the drug addiction industrial complex.

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  4. It's a damning report and it's all true. A 17 year old with a beer who gets an MIP will get more attention from the system than a 14 year old with 2 grams of heroin and a needle.

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  5. The non-judgmental language to describe the many victims of Measure 110 is "people experiencing lifelesness."

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  6. Everyone’s treating this as thought it was a Gordian Knot.

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    1. Alexander the Great was shown the Gordian Knot. His solution was to pull out his sword and cut it in two. Problem solved.

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  7. Today’s woke crowd would banish Alexander.

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