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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.
Maybe instead of criminalizing these drugs the state should put more efforts in keeping its hospitals open and not shoving the homeless around like cattle. The police here are constantly evicting camps yet there’s no social programs for these people to get them the help they clearly need. Furthermore the recriminalization of drugs will only further exploit already poor people who can’t pay the fines.
The city of Springfield has a literal curfew and arrests the unhoused. They all migrate to Eugene and Junction City where that’s not happening yet. We have rains and below 0 nights and there are only a few housing alliances, which rightfully are drug free, which means a very small percentage of people are actually taking advantage of the one public service that is offered.
Re-criminalizing drug use isn’t the answer, at least it is far from the only one. I do not use and am against the harder drugs mentioned, but the option should be to go into a clinic that gives you safe prescribed dosages and at the same time offers you rehabilitation services. Cull the illegal sales, encourage getting ones life together and use the drug functionally (can’t use if you can’t buy, can’t buy if you can’t work). This puts people on the path to functional addiction which with enough support and being offered rehabilitation each time you go in to buy.
We should be following Portugal’s working example, not further pushing the prison complex. Though, what more would I expect from the sundown police state.
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.
The original article contains 1,007 words, the summary contains 193 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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.
