Tenchu's Thoughts: Decriminalization of Drugs Has Failed
I knew it from the moment this law passed, but my libertarian side kept open the possibility that the decriminalization of drugs could somehow work out if done properly.
Well, just like every other left-wing utopian idea that has been tried in America, both the idea and the execution thereof were terrible:
Oregon Decriminalized Hard Drugs. It Isn’t Working (WSJ)
It's been three years since Oregon decriminalized all hard drugs, including the current boogeyman of the War on Drugs: fentanyl.
What happened since then? It should be obvious.
- Drug use skyrocketed.
- Fatal overdoses skyrocketed.
- Police stopped enforcing the laws against open drug use. As a result, open drug markets became rampant.
- Urban blight, property crimes, and even violent crimes committed by those high on drugs has gone way up.
- Portland is now a complete shithole.
- Hardly any drug user has taken advantage of drug treatment programs, which got increased funding at the same time as decriminalization.
- Most Oregonians now want to decriminalize hard drugs.
What left-wing assumptions were demolished by reality?
- "If you decriminalize hard drugs, the stigma will go away, and people will be more motivated to seek treatment programs." Turns out, that didn't happen. Turns out, the negative legal consequences are themselves a very viable motive for users to go seek treatment. Get rid of the negative consequences, and no one will be incentivized to clean themselves up.
- "Decriminalization means more police resources can be spent going after the 'real' violent criminals." Technically this may be true, but when decriminalization resulted in an INCREASE in violent crime, then this becomes a wash. In fact, it becomes more than a wash. Instead, it becomes WORSE than before.
- "We need to 'reimagine' law enforcement and 'reimagine' our solutions toward the drug crisis, like more social services instead of arrests, more mental health facilities instead of jails, more social workers instead of cops." Again, this didn't happen. The need for cops only grew with the resulting increase in crime. Meanwhile I've yet to see any city successfully employ the "social worker squad" as viable replacements for cops.
But let this failed experiment be a lesson to everyone else who still believes in decriminalizing drugs.
Also, let it be a lesson for the left-wingers who think they can "defund law enforcement" and "decriminalize" so-called "minor" offenses like theft up to $950, or prostitution, or open air drug use, or shitting in the streets, etc.
Decriminalization has failed. It was a scam from the beginning, and it has resulted predictably in a spectacular failure.
Tenchusatsu |
