Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Politics
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.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:44PM (8 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday February 04 2021, @02:44PM (#1108905) Homepage Journal

    Anytime I see anything involving cutting social services it's always some conservative behind it with the excuse of getting rid of "freeloaders".

    Of course it is. Because Democrats looooooove freeloaders. Their entire economic policy is based on buying every possible vote from them. With money taken from people who worked for it.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:14PM (7 children)

    by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 04 2021, @06:14PM (#1108987)

    As if the GOP is any better on the subject of buying votes with their constant drumbeat of "lower taxes". They love spending money even more than the Democrats, but don't want to pay when the bill comes due.

    The GOP also enable the biggest freeloaders in existence: corporations and the wealthy.

    --
    The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @02:04PM (6 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday February 05 2021, @02:04PM (#1109298) Homepage Journal

      Dude, really? You're really going to say a bully taking less of your lunch money in exchange for your homecoming king vote is giving you something? That is some truly fucked up mental gymnastics. Taking less of what is yours to begin with is not a gift.

      Yup to corporations and the wealthy. But until you support a same percentage for everyone, no loopholes, no exceptions tax system, we have nothing to talk about.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Friday February 05 2021, @04:24PM (5 children)

        by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 05 2021, @04:24PM (#1109336)

        You're one for mental gymnastics. You're blaming the Democrats for something ("buying votes") that the GOP are happy to do as much of if not more. Now if you had said "politicians" instead of "Democrats" I'd agree with you wholeheartedly.

        A no loopholes, no exceptions system is fine by me, but a same percentage for all system would be a larger burden on the poor, so I can't support that at face value. A tax rate of, say, 20% would hurt a guy making $10000 ($2000 in tax) far more than a guy making $1,000,000 (200,000 in tax). Some kind of progressive cost of living adjustment would need to be put in to make me go for that.

        Either way the tax code is in dire need of simplification for certain, so I'm with you there.

        --
        The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 05 2021, @08:34PM (4 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday February 05 2021, @08:34PM (#1109399) Homepage Journal

          Nope. Not taking the people's money in the first place is not the same as taking it and then giving some back to whoever you bribed into voting for you.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Friday February 05 2021, @09:05PM (3 children)

            by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 05 2021, @09:05PM (#1109418)

            So what you're actually griping about is taxes, and not the buying of votes. The GOP promising to "take less money" is all about buying votes too.

            --
            The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 06 2021, @02:31PM (2 children)

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday February 06 2021, @02:31PM (#1109640) Homepage Journal

              Nope, not at the moment. Maybe later but right now I'm telling you your comparison is false both logically and morally because taking less in the first place is not in any way the same as taking and then giving back selectively.

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
              • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday February 08 2021, @03:36PM (1 child)

                by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 08 2021, @03:36PM (#1110261)

                I say it is no different; it is still a financial incentive to buy votes. Tax and spend isn't the greatest, but borrow and spend spend spend is worse, and costs you more in the long run.

                Morality, bah. We're talking about politicians here.

                --
                The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
                • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday February 08 2021, @06:44PM

                  by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday February 08 2021, @06:44PM (#1110329) Homepage Journal

                  The difference is saying they'll do what they should have been doing in the first place is not in any way bribery. And since bribery is what you're claiming and it's a morality-based issue, morality does enter into the argument.

                  --
                  My rights don't end where your fear begins.