No, my friends, you didn't wander over to The Babylon Bee. Portland, Oregon is just this messed up.
From CBS News:
Oregon paved the way as the first state to decriminalize drug use, passing Measure 110 in 2020. Instead of incarcerating drug users, the measure focused on addiction and recovery, with Portland police officers hand out citations for public drug use. People can have a chance for treatment and have their fines waived if they contact specific rehabilitation services, but calling that hotline is voluntary.
'We've had three years of this law that has not delivered on the promise that voters thought they were getting,' Washington County district attorney Kevin Barton said.
The hope was that a more humane approach would help curb addiction in the state, which saw nearly a thousand accidental overdose deaths in 2022. However, overdose deaths have continued to rise since 2020.
Now, the state, county and city have all declared a fentanyl state of emergency, and the state now appears to be taking a new approach to address the opioid crisis plaguing its largest city. The 90-day emergency order for fentanyl use issued by Gov. Tina Kotek establishes a command center and more coordination between emergency management and health services.
Okay, cool. So they're going to crack down on drugs, arrest dealers with serious time, move addicts out of their sprawling shantytowns on city streets, make the city safe with a robust police force again, and wage absolute war on the cartels that are selling this stuff to poison Americans.
... right?
From the AP:
People addicted to fentanyl who interact with first responders in Portland's downtown in the next 90 days will be triaged by this new command center. Staff can connect people with various resources from a bed in a drug treatment center to meeting with a behavioral health clinician to help with registering for food stamps.
Okay, so you're going to solve the problem of mass addiction by ... [checks notes] ... sending them to a medical shelter where they can talk with a shrink and get taxpayer money for food.
And you think this is going to solve the problem.
In Portland.
When the streets are filled with people like this 👇
Yeah.
'We cannot underestimate the tremendous value of bringing leaders from different disciplines in a room on a daily basis who all account for a different part of the solution,' Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement.
So, in essence, a bunch of leaders on taxpayer salaries are going to use taxpayer money to look like they're doing something so they can get positive press coverage that will help them get more taxpayer money.
'Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,' Kotek said in a statement.
Boy oh boy do I have an idea for you!!
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