Cutting the drugs and vice budget

This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • March 31, 2014 • no comments

There are people -- many of them have salaries that depend on it -- who have no conception that the war on drugs has been a disaster. It has caused more damage than drugs themselves, but the learning curve is painfully slow.

A Portland commissioner recognizes the failure and is trying to do something about it, according to this story in the Oregonian.

Key quote:

Although overdose deaths decreased in Multnomah County in 2012, heroin-related deaths remained at a historically high level, with 80 in 2012, the bureau reported.

The bureau will argue, as it does in its crime analysis memo, that arrest and overdose death statistics for 2012 show a "continued increase in drug usage in the City of Portland.

But Novick counters that street-level dealing that affects neighborhood livability is addressed by other units within the bureau's three precincts. He also points to an annual national survey of police chiefs and sheriffs, in which 82 percent said the national war on drugs has not been successful in reducing the use of illegal drugs.

And, Novick pointed to the Police Bureau's own crime analysis conclusion on drug activity and arrests in Portland: "Law enforcement can only touch a small percentage of the drug market that exists in Portland, and consequently is limited in the effect it can make on improving addicts lives.

It is amazing to me that the PPB would use the increase in drug use as a reason for continuing the war. It is, of course, evidence of failure.