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submitted 1 year ago by jordanlund@lemmy.one to c/portland@lemmy.ml

Not a fan of Fox, but there are stats in this article that are worth noting and I didn't see them in the others.

Copy/pasta if you don't want to give them the click, bolding is mine:

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - The Portland City Council passed an open-use drug ban Wednesday with a unanimous vote.

The ordinance won’t alter BM 110, which was passed by voters in 2020 and decriminalizes the possession of hard drugs and will go into effect as soon as it’s authorized by the Oregon Legislature or a court approves the ban.

While there’s already an ordinance to ban drinking alcohol in public, the new ordinance would add controlled substances. Those who violate the ordinance could face a fine up to $500 or spend six months in jail.

During public testimony, local business leaders from across Portland expressed their frustrations in how drug use has affected them.

Jeff Miller, CEO of Travel Portland, says in 2019 hotel occupancy was 85-90% in the summer. Now four years later, occupancy is at 63%. Miller says he believes the decrease in hospitality is linked to drug dealing and usage.

“Most cities rebook 70% of those conventions in Portland. We’ve rebooked 30%. They said we’re not coming back. Portland is too dangerous,” says Miller. “If leisure in business travel do not come back you as a city, and we as an organization will see those revenues dropped dramatically.”

David Friedericks of Portland Fire & Rescue Station 1 says his station alone responded to a total of 76 overdose calls over Labor Day weekend and calls the high volume of calls is disheartening.

“In some cases we treat the same patient in the same week. And we know through our partners of AMR, that the same patient has overdosed multiple times in a day,” says Friedericks. “I know that even when we try to help, our help is unwanted, wares on all of us.”

Tony Vezina of 4D Recovery Services says he doesn’t think the ban will be efficient.

“It may just kind of hide addicts. I was an addict; I was on the street before I had to hide,” says Vezina. “It may create a limited intervention that is only applied to people we can see in downtown Portland smoking in front of businesses using fatal or high addictive drugs.”

Vezina believes there needs to be a sensible intervention and bring in additional resources to prevent people from getting addicted provide treatment are and provide long-term recovery support.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one -5 points 1 year ago

Works for alcohol. Can't remember the last time I saw someone falling down drunk on the street.

[-] thisisawayoflife@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I get the impression you haven't actually spent much time in downtown. I was walking to a show at Roseland last Thursday and saw two people hammered on Broadway that came out if El Gaucho, being loud and obnoxious as addicts get. Can't say I saw anyone shooting up or smoking meth on that same stretch, though it would have been just as unpleasant.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one -5 points 1 year ago

Falling down drunk and consuming alcohol in public are two different problems.

When's the last time you saw someone on a street corner knocking back a paper bag full of Mad Dog? Because it's been a looooong time for me.

Stopping the frequent public fentanyl and meth use is going to go a long way.

[-] moody 5 points 1 year ago

Surely fines will stop an addict!

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one -1 points 1 year ago

6 months in jail will go a long way.

[-] RealJoL@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

So in the end they'll come out of jail with a bad rap sheet, no home or work anymore. Surely that'll help them beat the substance that makes them escape reality!

[-] thisisawayoflife@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Put users in jail! It's worked for the last 100 years! It's how we don't have any drug users anymore!

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one -1 points 1 year ago

Worked better than the 110 disaster we have now.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.one -3 points 1 year ago

Have you talked to an addict?

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/abetteriowa/2016/05/26/recovering-addict-prison-saved-my-life/84537618/

https://www.concordmonitor.com/concord-man-shares-personal-story-about-meth-addiction-7052689

The problem with 110 is treatment is voluntary. If you give an addict the choice to get clean, they will never choose it on their own. It must be mandatory and jail gives them that.

[-] thisisawayoflife@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Yes, jail will definitely be clean, drug free places. 😂😂🤡🤡

[-] Rowsdower@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Jail and confinement makes it worse actually. Especially if you have other mental health issues you're dealing with. Normally I'm fine and function reasonably well, but after spending 3 days locked in an 8'x10' room at multnomah county jail I was really slipping. Paranoid, vivid visual hallucinations, and some auditory stuff. You get the idea.

That was supposed to be in one of the nicer areas. Most of the people I saw were simply thrown in solitary confinement. Which is considered torture by the UN.

this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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