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posted by martyb on Tuesday February 02 2021, @10:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong? dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @04:44PM (15 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @04:44PM (#1107970)

    OK so why doesn't everyone smoke cigarettes? Or drink until they fall down every day and night? Addiction is a symptom, not the underlying problem.

    The underlying problem that affects *waves hands* 20% of people is psychological trauma - their drug of choice best alleviates their mental torment. Read the book "In the realm of hungry ghosts" on eBay - I got a copy for $3 - or check out some quotes [goodreads.com] by the author.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:24PM (14 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:24PM (#1108000)

    "Psychological trauma"? Only for some. For many, there was absolutely nothing wrong with their life, they tried a drug, and their body reacted to it VERY POSITIVELY, and they kept taking it and were hooked.

    Don't fall 100% for psychobabble justifications for everything. There is a physiological component that is critical. It's in our genes. You can easily see this in cases of alcoholism that runs in families. You can see it in your friend who took his first drink and his face lit up with joy on the first sip, and does so every other time he takes his first sip of the day.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:37PM (13 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:37PM (#1108006)

      BZZZZT bullshit.

      You think your parents' traumas don't pass onto you? And their parents' to them? The physical addiction to, say, booze is minimal I've drunk heavily basically since the age of 15. I can stop for days or a week - there are zero physical symptoms. Also smoked cigarettes socially for 10 years, 3-4 a day. Then stopped when I moved and didn't have the same social circle.

      Caffeine is tougher - if I stop for a few days (and I can), I get headaches for about 2 days. Then it's over, addiction finished.

      So for me - and probably 80% - we can dip in and out of addictive substances and move on with our lives. The physical addiction is *minor*.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:57PM (12 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 02 2021, @05:57PM (#1108022)

        You didn't take the harder drugs. Please, try some heroin, some meth, some fentanyl and back to us. Caffeine? What a joke!

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday February 02 2021, @06:46PM (2 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Tuesday February 02 2021, @06:46PM (#1108058) Homepage Journal

          Says you. I quit amphetamines cold turkey and only had a couple days where I felt fine but was really tired. Caffeine? I'd rather give up smoking. Repeatedly. The headaches were worse than having a tooth pulled.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by Oakenshield on Tuesday February 02 2021, @09:21PM (1 child)

            by Oakenshield (4900) on Tuesday February 02 2021, @09:21PM (#1108126)

            I have a buddy that reacts the same way as you. He tried to convince me that quitting caffeine would do the same to me as it did to him. Terrible headaches. I tried to tell him it made no difference to me. Every year, I spent a week with my boys at Scout camp with nothing but water and it never caused me any discomfort or headaches. (I don't drink coffee) So, I switched completely to non-caffeine drinks for a month just to show him.

            I could guzzle two liters of Coke right before bed and sleep like a rock. ...Until I wake up at 4AM with a painfully full bladder.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @02:40AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @02:40AM (#1108275)

              sleep like a rock. ...Until I wake up at 4AM with a painfully full bladder.

              Water from a stone!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @01:51AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 03 2021, @01:51AM (#1108238)

          Well I can't, can I?

          I've taken oxys and they're OK. Same as hydrocodone. Nice, especially with caffeine!

          I took them for 2 weeks after a wisdom tooth extraction. Then stopped. They also made me constipated. Amazingly I did not become a zombie sex slave, just went about my life. I still like them and would do again - but constipation is something I wouldn't care for very often. ====== See example of a grown up making a decision

          And YET I did not steal my mom's supply for her hip operation.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 04 2021, @01:12PM (6 children)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday February 04 2021, @01:12PM (#1108879) Journal

          Caffeine is no joke. I have one vice, and *only* one, and caffeine is it. I need almost the recommended upper limit of 400mg a night to function properly. Am looking into possibly being hypothyroid and eating more iodine to see if that lessens the need, but it looks like I'm going to be a caffeine hound till the grave.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:52PM (4 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:52PM (#1108908) Homepage Journal

            400mg? Noob. My standard ration is 1200mg every morning. I won't even drop it down below 300 per AM if I've been an overachiever lately and my kidneys need a break.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 05 2021, @01:35AM (3 children)

              by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday February 05 2021, @01:35AM (#1109150) Journal

              You also have ADHD and antisocial personality disorder, one diagnostic hallmark of the latter being chronic understimulation of the autonomic and near-autonomic nervous system. You need barely sublethal doses of it just to keep functioning. For my part, the 350-400mg a day are causing some rather unpleasant side effects and I really wish I didn't need so much. Hopefully adding some iodine and some zinc will help with this, though I hear zinc helps men more than women.

              --
              I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
              • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @02:16PM (2 children)

                by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday February 05 2021, @02:16PM (#1109301) Homepage Journal

                Nope, I'm very social. Fuck, I've put shitloads of hours in to the thing you're insulting me on specifically so I have another good venue for being even social. What have you done?

                It's a tolerance thing. You know, that word you and your friends like using as its own antonym. I didn't start out on a couple grams a day but I can manage it once in a while easily enough. I generally get by on 900-1200mg a day. Also, yeah, that's what the FDA says is likely to cause problems but they qualify it with the word "rapid" rather than "daily".

                --
                My rights don't end where your fear begins.
                • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 06 2021, @01:43AM (1 child)

                  by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 06 2021, @01:43AM (#1109477) Journal

                  You don't seem to understand what words mean. Antisocial personality disorder doesn't mean you dislike socializing, it means you're a socio*path.* I wish the institution were a bit less euphemistic and would outright call it sociopathy still, but what the hell. A turd by any other name...

                  --
                  I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @02:37PM

                    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday February 06 2021, @02:37PM (#1109642) Homepage Journal

                    You know, from someone who actually lacks anything approaching a properly functioning sense of empathy, that's pretty hilarious. You're one of the worst I've ever seen at identifying emotion and how it factors in to motivation, which is what empathy is. Is that pathological or is it intentional lies you tell yourself to keep from having to acknowledge that you are the bad guy?

                    --
                    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 08 2021, @11:40PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 08 2021, @11:40PM (#1110431)

            Equal amounts of caffeine and ibuprofen will get you through the day, or night. Just don't use an NSAID daily.