The Western U.S. has been conducting an experiment that went awry. What began as loosening restrictions on the recreational use of marijuana snowballed into legalizing the possession and use of hard drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. Now, states are starting to reconsider the wisdom of those policies.
At the beginning of September, Oregon’s 3 1/2-year experiment with decriminalizing drugs came to an end as it reinstated some consequences for substance abuse.
The rollback of Ballot Measure 110 reinstituted misdemeanor charges for possession and public use of small amounts of drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. It came after Oregon saw overdose deaths skyrocket by nearly 50% between 2021 and 2023. Violent crime increased by 17% in the state, while the number of homeless people increased by 8.5% in 2023.
As neighboring states such as California, Colorado, and Washington eye the Oregon experiment, are they steering away from similar progressive crime policies?
Read more at Washingtonexaminer.com
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