There is an ideological and political battle playing out among critics and supporters of Oregon's drug decriminalization. It's largely about forced treatment.
Sep 27, 2022·edited Sep 27, 2022Liked by Zachary Siegel
This is just my personal opinion, based on what I have observed in friends and relatives who don’t understand the trajectory of my daughter’s life. This was her father’s mantra, “what happened to my sweet, smart, beautiful little girl? “ He’s intelligent but clueless—he has no interest, even now (when our grandson is already struggling with substances at age 14) in trying to understand. I think most people who 1. have not experienced addiction themselves, or 2. have not been closely involved with loved ones struggling…. don’t really understand how complicated addiction is… and how many factors there are that can influence how and why it develops. I think many people see addiction as ONE SPECIFiC “THING”—not taking into account the many different reasons people use substances, the many reasons they continue to use, and also the reasons they get treatment or stop on their own—Or don’t want to stop.
I also think many don’t understand that every individual is just that — an individual. There’s not one solution that will work for everyone.
Please forgive me if I read too quickly and overlooked this if you covered this angle, but unfortunately I'm in a rush and the point needs to made urgently: use and addiction are not synonymous terms!
Consider this treatment from Oregon Public Broadcasting:
"At the same time, the tickets for drug possession meant to steer people to treatment have failed. Most of the more than 3,169 tickets issued through August were ignored, according to state courts officials, with recipients neither paying a fine nor showing up in court. Fewer than 200 people have called a hotline the state set up to help people who receive possession tickets receive treatment."
OK, so less than 200 of more 3000 people found with drugs sought treatment.
But if you ticketed everyone on the road with a six-pack, bottle of wine, or a cannabis vape in their car, how many should we want or expect to seek out treatment? (Remember - the ticket is for mere possession, not intoxicated driving or any other thing.)
It should be clear that if we treat alcohol possession as a positive test for alcohol use disorder, we're going to get a LOT of false positives. The same is true for other drugs.
This is another case where if *other* people get ticketed for being found with *their* drug of choice, *all* of them need treatment. But when the officer sees a bottle of wine in *my* grocery bag, suggesting *I* (or my wife, children, or friends) need treatment is police state overreach and I'll sue!
This is just my personal opinion, based on what I have observed in friends and relatives who don’t understand the trajectory of my daughter’s life. This was her father’s mantra, “what happened to my sweet, smart, beautiful little girl? “ He’s intelligent but clueless—he has no interest, even now (when our grandson is already struggling with substances at age 14) in trying to understand. I think most people who 1. have not experienced addiction themselves, or 2. have not been closely involved with loved ones struggling…. don’t really understand how complicated addiction is… and how many factors there are that can influence how and why it develops. I think many people see addiction as ONE SPECIFiC “THING”—not taking into account the many different reasons people use substances, the many reasons they continue to use, and also the reasons they get treatment or stop on their own—Or don’t want to stop.
I also think many don’t understand that every individual is just that — an individual. There’s not one solution that will work for everyone.
Please forgive me if I read too quickly and overlooked this if you covered this angle, but unfortunately I'm in a rush and the point needs to made urgently: use and addiction are not synonymous terms!
Consider this treatment from Oregon Public Broadcasting:
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/21/oregon-decriminalize-drugs-measure-110-addiction-treatment/
"At the same time, the tickets for drug possession meant to steer people to treatment have failed. Most of the more than 3,169 tickets issued through August were ignored, according to state courts officials, with recipients neither paying a fine nor showing up in court. Fewer than 200 people have called a hotline the state set up to help people who receive possession tickets receive treatment."
OK, so less than 200 of more 3000 people found with drugs sought treatment.
But if you ticketed everyone on the road with a six-pack, bottle of wine, or a cannabis vape in their car, how many should we want or expect to seek out treatment? (Remember - the ticket is for mere possession, not intoxicated driving or any other thing.)
It should be clear that if we treat alcohol possession as a positive test for alcohol use disorder, we're going to get a LOT of false positives. The same is true for other drugs.
This is another case where if *other* people get ticketed for being found with *their* drug of choice, *all* of them need treatment. But when the officer sees a bottle of wine in *my* grocery bag, suggesting *I* (or my wife, children, or friends) need treatment is police state overreach and I'll sue!