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Portland and San Fran Beset by Addiction, Homelessness, and Crime
The triple crisis exposed by “Seattle is Dying” in 2019 seems to be spreading. Can anything be done?
“What Happened When Oregon Decriminalized Hard Drugs,” explained Jim Hinch for The Atlantic on July 19, 2023. “A bold reform effort hasn’t gone as planned.”
“Many advocates say the new policy simply needs more time to prove itself, even if they also acknowledge that parts of the ballot measure had flaws; advocates worked closely with lawmakers on the oversight bill that passed last month,” wrote Hinch.
“‘We’re building the plane as we fly it,” one homeless services supervisor and reform advocate told The Atlantic. “We tried the War on Drugs for 50 years, and it didn’t work…It hurts my heart every time someone says we need to repeal this before we even give it a chance.”
It goes without saying that not everyone in Oregon is happy to be stuck on a public safety policy plane that is being built on the fly. It also goes without saying that the War on Drugs should probably have been abandoned as soon as its unworkability became apparent — if only gradually — to everyone a decade ago.
Portland isn’t the only place suffering the slings and arrows of drug decriminalization.