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1 year ago
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Three years after Oregon voted to de-criminalize drug offences - residents are now begging to reverse their decision after seeing an astonishing number of deaths from opioid overdoses.
In 2020 - Oregon voters approved a measure to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine. The proposal, known as Oregon Ballot Measure 110, passed with 58.8 percent support.
Now residents of the liberal state are crying out to their politicians to do something about the open-air drug markets that their cities have turned into.
Opioid deaths in Oregon have gone up from 280, before the de-criminalization was voted in, to a whopping 955 deaths that were recorded in 2022.
Oregon's opioid-related deaths have more than tripled - while the nationwide reports have doubled, indicating that the West Coast state are facing a far more serious struggle with drugs.
Opioid deaths in Oregon have gone up from 280, before the de-criminalization was voted in, to a whopping 955 deaths that were recorded in 2022
Three years after Oregon voted to de-criminalize drug offences - residents are now begging to reverse their decision after seeing an astonishing number of deaths from opioid overdoses (Pictured: A man holding a glass pipe in Portland)
In 2020 - Oregon voters approved a measure to decriminalize the possession of all drugs including heroin and cocaine. The proposal, known as Oregon Ballot Measure 110 , passed with 58.8 percent support (Pictured: drug paraphernalia in Portland)
Oregon's opioid-related deaths have more than tripled - while the nationwide reports have doubled, indicating that the West Coast state are facing a far more serious struggle with drugs (Pictured: A scene in Portland)
'This breaks my heart,' says Michael Bock - a private security guard in Portland to Fox.
Bock - who has a 'boots on ground' perspective of the crisis in Oregon - claims that people being burdened with addiction are being neglected and being cast to the side.
'We're talking abut the loss of life and we have to do something different this is serious,' Bock said.
The security guard said that he went from carrying out zero drug overdose revivals to reviving many people on a daily basis.
Fox reported that of the 6,000 tickets issued for drug possession since the law went into effect - only 92 have progressed to assessment and connecting those people to services to combat their drug use.
In Eugene, Oregon, calls for overdoses rose to 823 in 2022 from 438 in 2020 - and this year so far has already seen 858 calls in the city.
Under the measures that went into effect on February 1, 2021, a person found with hard drugs in their possession have the option of paying a $100 fine or attending new 'addiction recovery centers' instead of going to trial and facing possible jail time.
Oregon's opioid-related deaths have more than tripled - while the nationwide reports have doubled, indicating that the West Coast state are facing a far more serious struggle with drugs (Pictured: Portland)
Of the 6,000 tickets issued for drug possession in Oregon since the law went into effect - only 92 have progressed to assessment and connecting those people to services to combat their drug use
The liberal city of Portland was once vibrant and booming - but like many other cities it has turned into a tent-covered abyss with soaring crime, endemic drug abuse and maniacal behavior
Three years down the line - even a drug-user from Portland known as 'Utah' told Dailymail.com that Measure 110 has made things worse in the city.
'It's made it worse. Don't get me wrong, it makes it better for me, but getting the police off our backs and giving us free pipes and foil to do our drugs is not going to get us off the streets.'
Utah estimates that 20 percent of the city's homeless population of 5,000 want to tackle their addiction - but says it's hard when the city has turned into what the New York Times dubbed a 'drug-user's paradise'.
The liberal city of Portland was once vibrant and booming - but like many other cities it has turned into a tent-covered abyss with soaring crime, endemic drug abuse and maniacal behavior.
Locals complain about having to step over used needles, shattered glass pipes and human feces on the way to work, and say they've become inured even to blood- curdling screaming fits from disturbed addicts.
Polls show that a majority of Portland's 635,000 residents want to restore criminal penalties for drug possession, believing that Measure 110 has actually made the city's addiction, crime and homelessness problems worse.
Ted Wheeler, Portland's Democrat mayor, has conceded that his city's substance abuse problems 'have exploded to deadly and disastrous proportions'.
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