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"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” John Erlichman, Nixon aid, 1994
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” John Erlichman, Nixon aid, 1994
Yep, they already admitted to lying about dangers of drugs decades ago!
Oddly enough, if you look at majority of heroin arrests today...its largely WHITE PEOPLE!!!! (Gee, I guess that is just a coincidence). LOL
Yep, they already admitted to lying about dangers of drugs decades ago!
Oddly enough, if you look at majority of heroin arrests today...its largely WHITE PEOPLE!!!! (Gee, I guess that is just a coincidence). LOL
Most people don't realize that the drug war is over. Armies are already leaving the battlefield. Portugal has decriminalized all drugs as has Uruguay. Mexico is legalizing cannabis. Canada already has. Cannabis is legal in much of the US.
Now Gullickson, the executive director of the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon, is determined to give other addicts the same opportunity. That’s why she pushed for the passage of Measure 110, first-of-its-kind legislation that decriminalizes the possession of all illegal drugs in Oregon, including heroin, cocaine, meth and oxycodone. Instead of a criminal justice-based approach, the state will pivot to a health care-based approach, offering addicts treatment instead of prison time. Those in possession will be fined $100, a citation that will be dropped if they agree to treatment.
The law goes into effect Monday and will be implemented over the next decade by the state officials at the Oregon Health Authority.
Advocates say the pivot will be life-changing for thousands of Oregonians.
“One of the things people misunderstand is how criminalization creates barriers to treatment,” says Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit dedicated to legalizing illicit drug use. “If we want people to make different choices, we have to give them more options ... ending criminalization will do leaps and bounds around ending shame, which automatically opens people up for other opportunities.”
That explains why the anarcho State of Oregon did it first.
They have been fighting against this tooth and nail. If they were libertarians, pot would have been legalized at federal level a long time ago. Republican party has a strong authoritarian segment. Look at Florida, where the State Congress is practically 100% Republican. They made it impossible to have pot on the ballot, because they knew it would have passed with 70% support. They will fight to keep it off the ballot in 2022 midterms too.
Why do you think I voted for Gary Johnson in 2016?
We all knew this would happen. But, to be fair, I don't have Oregon's law. I think they should do the same with pot - make it a fine. The fine should be higher IMO or based on income. You can get out of the fine if you agree to treatment. After so many fines (maybe 3), you start facing community service.
This is America...the WILL OF THE PEOPLE comes before the opinion of Govt!
Im getting sick of my tax dollars going to ensure the foreign drug cartels increase their profits!
Once these drugs are legalized, legitimate industry will push the criminals out.
Decriminalizing Heroin has no impact on Cartel or middlemen profits.
Oregon reclassified small amounts of drugs as a civil violation subject to a $100 fine which can be waived by agreeing to a health assessment. If my math is correct, small amount as it relates to Heroin is the equivalent of a day’s supply for a heavy user.
20 years ago, Portugal decriminalized most drugs. Despite this, all drugs, including marijuana, remain illegal.
Portugal has Universal Healthcare and views treatment as healthcare. Methadone and to some extent, Suboxone, are the primary long term treatments for opiate addiction, in Portugal.
Repeat offenders are ordered to treatment, required to avoid all contact with dealers/ traffickers and recreational drug users.
As I understand it, government trucks make hime deliveries of Methadone.
As you know, a Heroin addict typically engages in the daily grind, wake, get money, score and repeat.
The “ get money” thing more often than not results in arrest, more so than possession, especially of small quantities for personal use. Police typically know where the open air markets are and rarely interfere. Not worth the time/ effort for someone who scored a bundle of 10 bags.
Good, the war on drugs has been a complete failure. Let adults do what they want as long as they're not hurting anyone else, that's kinda the definition of 'freedom'
If only the impact could be limited to those that use.
That’s rarely the case.
There is the daily grind for most Heroin addicts, wake, get money, score and repeat. The “ get money” is where it gets tricky. Friends and family are manipulated and family tend to be codependent- a belief they somehow have control over what the addict in their life does. There are parents who will fund their child’s addiction so their kid does not have to steal or prostitution themselves.
Rarely is anything in the residence safe from theft. Families are less likely to press charges because they don’t want to ruin the addict’s life.
If employed, a Heroin addict is more likely to be engaged in a job where they have access to cash and goods. Credit cards have put a major dent in the amount of cash a business has on hand. 50 Kitchen Aid Mixers go out the back door of Kohl’s.
I am a long term on again/ off again volunteer at a hospital detox and in patient facility. I have heard it all.
As I understand it, Oregon intends to use taxes from the sale of recreational marijuana to help fund treatment.
I don’t know what treatment means in Oregon and it’s likely variable by the drug of choice.
Methadone Maintenance and Suboxone can effective long term treatments forOpiate/ opioid addiction , especially longer term addicts committed to sobriety and reinventing their lives. Learning to live life on life’s terms without the benefit of substance is an overwhelming challenge for most longer term addicts.
In too many cases, those in treatment continue to chase the high and end up substituting substances.
Crystal Meth and cocaine and derivatives are different animals.
I have yet to meet anyone who intended to get addicted. They all believed they could control it until it was obvious, the drug was controlling them. My guess is that about half of those “ in treatment”, especially court- ordered treatment, persist with a fantasy they are in control.
Noem is still trying to kill it with a lawsuit in South Dakota, meanwhile in North Dakota legislators are actually proposing legalization bills because they want to be able to set the rules.
I look forward to seeing Oregon's experiment in decriminalization. You don't know what will happen with it until somebody tries. If it doesn't work it can be reversed. I myself hardly drink or use drugs, but I don't necessarily believe in taking away people's rights and forcing a way of life when the majority of the population come to a consensus on something. Banning alcohol if we did it... what would that solve? You'd just increase the big prison industrial complex. Marijuana is fairly harmless, much less so than alcohol. Mushrooms and DMT people use for "ego death" and personal development purposes. Heroin and Meth are dangerous drugs that need to be taken seriously... the way they alter the brain's dopamine pathways... cigarettes aren't nearly as harmful but extremely addictive with the way they alter the dopamine pathways... so is the combination of sugar and fat in foods, and MSG.
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