Oregon has legalizes a number of recreational drugs, and opponents want to repeal that approval, claiming that this legalization has led to an increase in drug related morbidity and mortality.
Research shows that there is NO correlation between drug legalization and poor outcomes.
This has been obvious for decades. It has been obvious since Nixon declared the war on drugs that a law enforcement approach produces no benefits, and creates a multitude of societal costs:
A new study commissioned by the CDC found no correlation between Oregon’s drug decriminalization law and rising overdose deaths.
The study was published Wednesday, Sept. 27 in JAMA Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed medical journal. Researchers said after Oregon became the first state to decriminalize all drugs via Measure 110, they wanted to gauge the impact of the new policy. They looked at data spanning a year, from February 2021 to March 2022, and concluded overdose deaths in states with drug decriminalization laws, like Washington and Oregon, weren’t higher than those without the same policies. Researchers found fatal overdoses increased in multiple states, likely due to an influx of fentanyl.
Measure 110 was passed by Oregon voters in 2020. The law allows users caught with a small amount of hard drugs to be referred to drug treatment, rather than jail. It relies on funding from cannabis taxes to establish and pay for treatment programs.
While some have blamed Oregon’s law for a rise in drug use and overdoses, those who compared public health data across multiple states say that hasn’t proven true.
The study’s authors noted they “found no evidence of an association between legal changes that removed or substantially reduced criminal penalties for drug possession in Oregon and Washington and fatal drug overdose rates.”
The prohibitionists case has never been supported by the evidence, but they don't care, because it can be used as an excuse to oppress the poor and minorities.
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