Just over three years since Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 110, elected officials want to repeal key elements, blaming the law for open drug use and soaring overdoses. But it’s their own hands-off approach that isn’t working, advocates say.
it’s because treating the problem of drugs like a personal moral failing offers nothing but punishment, without addressing the root cause of people with addiction. Instead of putting people in prison for drugs, (in which they still have access to drugs) we would rather help them address the underlying cause of hardship that causes them to want to “check out” so badly. People in poverty, with untreated illness, little to no support system, without access to a safe place to live, are going to want to check out via drug use. Us punishing them isn’t going to do anything but give them another reason to shoot up.
work programs, housing programs, food programs, and healthcare is what they truly need to stop. Not us spending the same amount of money it would take to help them, but on the prison industrial complex.
This sounds nice, but addicts don’t just stop being addicts. Losing a home may have resulted in someone getting addicted to heroin, but giving them a home won’t stop the addiction. Prison isn’t the place to treat addiction either though.
it’s because treating the problem of drugs like a personal moral failing offers nothing but punishment, without addressing the root cause of people with addiction. Instead of putting people in prison for drugs, (in which they still have access to drugs) we would rather help them address the underlying cause of hardship that causes them to want to “check out” so badly. People in poverty, with untreated illness, little to no support system, without access to a safe place to live, are going to want to check out via drug use. Us punishing them isn’t going to do anything but give them another reason to shoot up.
work programs, housing programs, food programs, and healthcare is what they truly need to stop. Not us spending the same amount of money it would take to help them, but on the prison industrial complex.
This sounds nice, but addicts don’t just stop being addicts. Losing a home may have resulted in someone getting addicted to heroin, but giving them a home won’t stop the addiction. Prison isn’t the place to treat addiction either though.
You have to address the addiction first though.
healthcare includes therapy, mental health, and addiction treatment.