Oregon Takes Next Step Toward Ending War On Drugs (2013, high school)

[Metlakatla]

Well, hopefully Oregon will find a way to pay for their rehab. I'm sure there are plenty of areas that could be cut in order to do so. Maybe take it from kids on the OHP.

The average job doesn't pay enough to finance the average addiction. This is one reason I won't hire druggies -- the rest of you are welcome to put them on your payroll.

I would be all for legislation that erased drug felony convictions if certain circumstances were met.

[Larry Caldwell]

The quick and easy way to pay for the rehab is to cut the prison budget. Oh, wait...

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

The quick and easy way to pay for the rehab is to cut the prison budget. Oh, wait...

A 10% reduction in prisons would be about an 11 billions dollars saving. That would pay for a lot of rehab, and we would still have more prisoners than any other country in the world.

[Metlakatla]

Just trading one industry that doesn't work for another industry that doesn't work. Rehab is notoriously ineffective among opioid and meth users. They'd be better off letting the plethora of senior citizens currently incarcerated out on compassionate release and by legalizing marijuana on a federal level (the ACLU says that over half of all drug arrests are for marijuana).

[jburress]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Just trading one industry that doesn't work for another industry that doesn't work. Rehab is notoriously ineffective among opioid and meth users. They'd be better off letting the plethora of senior citizens currently incarcerated out on compassionate release and by legalizing marijuana on a federal level (the ACLU says that over half of all drug arrests are for marijuana).

Current and past laws have failed. I see no problem in thinking outside the box and trying something new. There's no way anybody can be sure it can't work until you try it.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by jburress

Current and past laws have failed. I see no problem in thinking outside the box

Neither do I; I just think there may be better boxes to think outside of than the ones containing the meth and opioid epidemic many places are currently experiencing if reducing prison population is actually the goal.

Never said I was against this legislation; it seems to be a done deal anyway (and unless I missed it, there doesn't seem to be a plan in place to divert any monies saved to rehab/prevention programs). I'm just not convinced it'll have the desired effect. My primary residence is located in a community where these drugs are prevalent and arrests are extremely rare, and it's mostly a hellscape.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Just trading one industry that doesn't work for another industry that doesn't work. Rehab is notoriously ineffective among opioid and meth users. They'd be better off letting the plethora of senior citizens currently incarcerated out on compassionate release and by legalizing marijuana on a federal level (the ACLU says that over half of all drug arrests are for marijuana).

I think it depends on the rehab. I was talking to some county deputies a while back, and they said they had one program that resulted in over 60% of the graduates staying clean for at least 2 years, which was as long as the program had been running. I suspect the "rehab doesn't work" mantra is just mythology that doesn't reflect reality.

[Metlakatla]

^And I was talking to a police chief awhile back who said that it doesn't work in his jurisdiction. And some people would consider a 60-percent success rate pretty abysmal.

Does this legislation actually mandate treatment or just lower fines and sentences? I didn't see anything that said that rehab would replace jail time -- just that it would remove the "stigma" so that offenders would be more likely to seek it out on their own.

Alaska passed similar legislation awhile back. It hasn't helped. Things are so bad there that entire communities are unlivable because of the by products of drug use.

This guy has an interesting perspective:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...g-legalization

Oh, and I'm out of this conversation now. It's clear that there's no room in the Oregon forum for discussing the drug culture in less than glowing terms (funny thing is is that I never exactly disagreed with this legislation; just questioned whether it would do any good -- I do tend to agree with the author of the article I posted that this opioid thing changes everything), so you all keep on with the hippy dippy happy, and I'll keep on smoking salmon.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

I think it depends on the rehab. I was talking to some county deputies a while back, and they said they had one program that resulted in over 60% of the graduates staying clean for at least 2 years, which was as long as the program had been running.........

.......and what program would that be??? Maybe you could ask the county deputies who told you about it a while back.

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

.......... I suspect the "rehab doesn't work" mantra is just mythology that doesn't reflect reality.

You suspect wrong. It's not mythology. Rehab programs have a very low success rate.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Success of rehab programs depends upon how voluntarily the participants are enrolled in the program. Druggies don't quit until they are ready and enrolling them in a program that is not their own choice isn't going to stop them.

So maybe a program for the addicts who have had seen bottom and are determined to get straight might possibly have a 60% success rate. There certainly isn't going to be any 60% success rate for the people who don't want to be in the program.

Addicts are generally quite contented to be high. It is the people around them, their families and the people they are stealing from, who are doing the suffering. Families and victims wanting a drug addict to be clean isn't enough to motivate a drug addict to get clean.