Drug problem in Oregon? Bend? (Portland: rental, crimes, houses)

[Taz22]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I don't think 'liberal attitudes' have much of anything to do with drug use. My sister-in-law lives in rural Missouri, hardly a place with liberal attitudes and she said there are so many people using meth that it's becoming normalized. Missouri has very harsh laws for meth possession or sales. Possession of even a small amount of meth carries a prison term of up to 7 years, second offense is punishable by a prison term of up to 10 years. Sales is 10-30 years but it doesn't deter people from using it.

Drug users lie to themselves constantly, they tell themselves the drug isn't really impacting their life and they convince themselves that they won't get caught...that's why "tough on crime" when it comes to drug users is an expensive exercise in futility. Harsh sentences should be reserved for drug traffickers, not addicts.

Well, I meant the liberal attitudes are more from politicians than locals. It really doesn’t have anything to do with who you voted for. Who wants to live around meth heads and homeless camps?

That’s interesting news on the state of things in Missouri. Good point on the harsher sentences not having any effect on meth use. I also agree with you on having harsher sentences for the dealers. Still, I don’t have sympathy for the users. Around here, when you see scruffy meth heads, they look feral. Behind their eyes is a complete blank. These people would do anything for their next high and that includes ripping people off or attacking them, if they deemed it was in their best interest. And they got where they are by their own poor decisions in life. But yeah, get them programs or whatever help they need, just don’t count on the local politicians to do it.

[PNW-type-gal]

The problem really started on the west coast and has spread to the south and midwest - but there are plenty of articles in east coast papers about how fast the problem is growing there.

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/20...pioid-epidemic
https://www.boston25news.com/news/me...and/992994155/

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

The problem really started on the west coast and has spread to the south and midwest - but there are plenty of articles in east coast papers about how fast the problem is growing there.

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/20...pioid-epidemic
https://www.boston25news.com/news/me...and/992994155/

The WBUR article is excellent, thanks for posting it. There aren't any easy ways to stop meth addiction, it's gotten so cheap that price isn't an obstacle and it physically alters the brain even after you quit using. It can take 6 to 12 months for the drug to normalize, in the meantime the addict has extreme cravings usually leading to relapse.

While scientists were busy developing drug treatments for opioid addiction they completely ignored meth. What is needed is a drug like adderall that stops the craving without providing the 'high' that draws addicts to the drug. Thus far the only thing offered to the meth addict is jail or short term rehab. The problem is that there are more drugs in most jails than on the streets and a 30 day rehab is unlikely to lead to long term sobriety.

[PNW-type-gal]

I am certainly not saying that the west coast and Oregon does NOT have a meth problem - it's why our petty and property crime rate is so high. If you go to the main City Data pages about, say Bend and Fall River, MA (roughly the same size, Fall River picked at random because of population size), you can see that, while Bend is higher in the category "Theft," it is lower in Rape, Assault, Robbery, Auto Thefts.

https://www.city-data.com/city/Fall-...achusetts.html
https://www.city-data.com/city/Bend-Oregon.html

[Atomicdoug]

Yes- they have heavily regulated Sudafed sales in almost every state. Home-cooked meth labs have dropped off a lot. But now cheap, highly pure Meth is just coming up from Mexico.

There is another reason though- Opiates affect rich and poor, often kids in their 20s from well to do families. Meth addiction is typically in lower class poor, rural areas and is often ignored.

All drug addiction causes property crime. And yeah the liberal vs. conservative lean of local government does matter. I visited Fort Collins CO last year, no homeless on the street, no needles, no one tweaking.

Originally Posted by Thom52

I thought the heavy ....very heavy....control of sudafed type, over the counter meds was greatly reducing the meth cooking issue in Oregon? Trying to get sudafed for a sinus issue takes an act of Congress.

I thought prescription opiods were the main problem now? And the following addiction to heroin.

I would feel more sympathetic with the Street People if they weren't biting the hands that feed them. Property crimes are off the charts in Northeast Bend now. This makes it much harder for the legitimate Homeless that have fallen on hard times and want to work their way out of it.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Atomicdoug

Yes- they have heavily regulated Sudafed sales in almost every state. Home-cooked meth labs have dropped off a lot. But now cheap, highly pure Meth is just coming up from Mexico.

There is another reason though- Opiates affect rich and poor, often kids in their 20s from well to do families. Meth addiction is typically in lower class poor, rural areas and is often ignored.

All drug addiction causes property crime. And yeah the liberal vs. conservative lean of local government does matter. I visited Fort Collins CO last year, no homeless on the street, no needles, no one tweaking.

I'm not sure your observations regarding Fort Collins proves what you think it does. I could name dozens of Cities in California where you wouldn't see homeless on the street, needles or tweaking. I think you're more apt to see what you are describing in large urban areas, usually in suburban or more rural places drug users tend to go underground to avoid being hassled by cops.

[Atomicdoug]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

I am certainly not saying that the west coast and Oregon does NOT have a meth problem - it's why our petty and property crime rate is so high. If you go to the main City Data pages about, say Bend and Fall River, MA (roughly the same size, Fall River picked at random because of population size), you can see that, while Bend is higher in the category "Theft," it is lower in Rape, Assault, Robbery, Auto Thefts.

https://www.city-data.com/city/Fall-...achusetts.html
https://www.city-data.com/city/Bend-Oregon.html

I've been to Fall River. it's a hole compared to Bend, not a desirable place to live.

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Almost no meth is 'cooked' in the US anymore, it comes from Mexico in huge quantities and it is of a very high quality and there's so much of it that it's gotten really cheap. A parole agent friend of mine said that in Northern California the street price for meth is $150-$200 an ounce

Seriously, Thanks for setting me straight on this. Some people were telling me that meth wasn't a problem in Bend anymore because of the Sudafed rules. This had me confused because many of the Street People I see sure looked and acted like tweakers, with crimes to match. The cheap, high quality import Crystal sure explains a lot!

Although I still think the rising opioid problem is a major factor in the spiking property crime rate.

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by Atomicdoug

Yeah but the question is did drugs lead to homelessness or the other way around?

Drugs (drug addiction) cause homelessness.

Mental illness, also.

I'm from Western Washington, and 1 hour west of Seattle.

In the 90s, I'd see tweakers in minimarts chewing gum relentlessly.

I know people that lost their home in their late 40s, after of course losing their jobs.

Meth is a nasty thing.

We also had to cancel our mail boxes b/c meth addicts were into stealing mail and ID.

We've used a PO Box ever since.

[texasdiver]

There are a lot of different drug crises. The meth crisis is separate from the prescription opioid crisis. My wife who is in the medical field tells me that Oregon was a lot more permissive about prescription opioids in the 1990s when the medical profession and Oregon medical board was under the notion that pain was not being properly managed by doctors and that more expansive pain treatment was warranted. She also practiced medicine in Texas where the TX medical board is very suspicious of opioids and doctors knew they could jeopardize their medical licenses by over-prescribing opioids. So she says she saw a LOT less prescription opioid abuse in TX compared to OR because the medical culture is just a lot more reluctant to prescribe them.

I'm basically a libertarian when it comes to drug laws and have always been really uncomfortable with the discriminatory and racist enforcement of drug laws. So I think pot legalization was a good thing here in the Northwest. In TX a black kid can get 5 years and be a felon for life for getting caught with pot while a white kid will get a slap on the wrist, or probably just a warning from the friendly white cop and not even get in the system.

That said, I think there is no way to avoid the situation where a permissive attitude towards one type of drugs leads to a permissive attitude towards others like heroin and meth. I honestly don't have any answers. I do know that I have good friends from college who work as public defenders and they have told me that 98 percent of their cases are either drug related somehow (drug dealing, possession, petty crime in support of drug habit, or drug fueled crime like DUIs) or domestic violence related. Take drugs and domestic violence out of the picture and pretty much all street-level crime vanishes.