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Oregon law to decriminalize all drugs goes into effect, offering addicts rehab instead of prison:
"I lived in the bottom for years," says [Janie] Gullickson, 52. "For me and people like me, I laid there and wallowed in it for a long time."
But if she has to pick the lowest point – one that lasted years, not days, she says – it came shortly after she hit 30 in 1998. At that time, Gullickson had five kids, ages 5 to 11, by four different men. She came home from work one day as a locksmith to find that her ex-husband had taken her two youngest and left the state. Horrified, devastated and convinced that this was the beginning of the end, her life spiraled: She dropped her other son off with his dad, left her two daughters with her mom and soon became an IV meth user.
In prison six years later, Gullickson was contemplating joining an intensive recovery program when a "striking, magnetic gorgeous Black woman walked in the room, held up a mug shot and started talking about being in the very chairs where we were sitting," Gullickson remembers. There was life on the other side of addiction and prison, the woman said. But you have to fight for it. Gullickson believed her.
"I remember thinking, I may not be able to do all that, be what she was, but maybe I could do something different than this," Gullickson says. "That day, I felt the door open to change and healing."
Now Gullickson, 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 a health assessment.
The law goes into effect Monday and will be implemented over the next decade by the state officials at the Oregon Health Authority.
[...] "I hope that we all become more enlightened across this country that substance abuse is not something that necessitates incarceration, but speaks to other social ills – lack of health care, lack of treatment, things of that nature," says Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., an outspoken critic of the War on Drugs.
[...] Watson Coleman also points out that it's far more expensive to pay to incarcerate someone than get them treatment. Rehab programs not only empower people, she says, but they also save communities money.
Also at: CNN.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @04:33PM (10 children)
Let's look at the details [apnews.com] to listen in on the rational debate about this issue.
Well at least it's only a hollow political gesture these days rather than protecting our precious white women from rape. Progress.
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 02 2021, @06:20PM (9 children)
The republicans no longer control the senate. Any failure now is purely on the democrats, just like 12 years ago.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 02 2021, @06:55PM (7 children)
Democrat senators vow to legalise cannabis this year [independent.co.uk]
Supposedly they'll release the plan in spring/summer.
Weed became legal in my state during those 12 years so for a lot of people those years were a success.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 02 2021, @07:37PM (6 children)
Uh huh... Think they'll get a covid relief bill out by then too? What's the holdup? Why is McConnell's name still in the news?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 02 2021, @09:00PM
They're voting on the relief bill today.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 02 2021, @09:19PM (4 children)
Covid bill just passed. Was that quick enough for you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @01:41AM (1 child)
Meanwhile SCANDAL!!! "Kamala Harris criticized for wearing controversial label Dolce & Gabbana"
Hell, I take that instead of seeing news that Jared "motherfucking" Kushner is being put in charge of *anything*. *Ever*.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @02:43AM
The outrage they peddle when a democrat isn't doing anything worth criticizing is very revealing and extremely pathetic.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 03 2021, @03:21AM
Yeah great! Now do universal health care...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 03 2021, @08:28AM
Correction... It did not pass... They only agreed to move it to the next step within the senate. It's not going to the president's desk yet. And now they have their "villain" [thehill.com] to keep the game going
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday February 03 2021, @02:55AM
>The republicans no longer control the senate.
Define "control". The Republicans are no longer in charge, but so long as the filibuster remains an option the Republican's have an enormous amount of obstructive power. And personally I think the filibuster has proven itself a valuable tool over the decades, so I'm not in favor of eliminating it.
What remains to be seen is if the Democrats have the will to just recognize that the Republicans are going to be unwavering obstructionists, just as they were 12 years ago, and just ram through what needs to be done, rather than trying to give a seat at the table to those who clearly don't want it.
Of course, my money has always been on everyone from both sides being mostly so deep in the same pockets that the same cross-party trend will continue. The rich and powerful will get more perks and breaks, while the rest of us get screwed to pay for them.