Summer of 2020---The Civil Unrest Thread--Read OP Before Posting (in memory of George Floyd)

[LD0506]

[gbear]

I think the biggest victory is probably Oregon where they decriminalized possession of drugs.  There is still a civil penalty of up to $100 , but no jail time.  They expect it to be cost neutral when they pay for more drug treatment facilities with the fines and reduced inmate counts, and moving some police funding toward drug treatment specialists.

 

To my mind, that is a huge victory about which I don't see many talking.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Drug use does lead to other crimes so we will see how that works out...

[Llevron]

3 hours ago, gbear said:

I think the biggest victory is probably Oregon where they decriminalized possession of drugs.  There is still a civil penalty of up to $100 , but no jail time.  They expect it to be cost neutral when they pay for more drug treatment facilities with the fines and reduced inmate counts, and moving some police funding toward drug treatment specialists.

 

To my mind, that is a huge victory about which I don't see many talking.

 

14 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Drug use does lead to other crimes so we will see how that works out...

 

I feel like there was something in there about the fine OR mandatory rehad/treatment. Did I make that up? 

 

I feel like I like that but I havent really looked into it at all. 

[visionary]

 

[gbear]

They can get out of the fine if they attend treatment. The whole idea is to treat drug abuse like a medical condition rather than a criminal activity.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

1 hour ago, Llevron said:

 

 

I feel like there was something in there about the fine OR mandatory rehad/treatment. Did I make that up? 

 

I feel like I like that but I havent really looked into it at all. 

I don’t really have a problem with decriminalizing drug use, locking people up doesn’t make them stop using. Mandatory treatment sounds better than jail, though in my experience people who want to use drugs will use drugs until they decide to quit.

Edited November 5, 2020 by CousinsCowgirl84

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

[visionary]

 

[skinsmarydu]

14 hours ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

I don’t really have a problem with decriminalizing drug use, locking people up doesn’t make them stop using. Mandatory treatment sounds better than jail, though in my experience people who want to use drugs will use drugs until they decide to quit.

Actually, having seen my stepdaughter lose her children and check herself in & out of the best treatment centers for 3 years?  She's even more of a criminal than she started out being 20 years ago.

Locking her up is the ONLY thing that will get her clean.  Period.  And she'll still come out, go back to her friends (not her kids), and keep at it.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Yeah, I meant clean as in giving up drugs all together. 
 

Some one close to me is a heroin addict, and yeah, when they went to jail they were clean for 2 months.... but in jail or using drugs, your still not here....

Edited November 6, 2020 by CousinsCowgirl84

[China]

[visionary]

 

[Captain Wiggles]

2 hours ago, China said:

 

I've gotten my hands on a few of the thin blue line neck gaiters. Bought a tye dye kit for em. 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by clietas

[spjunkies]

[LD0506]

[stoshuaj]

13 hours ago, China said:

cute but that’s asking for a foot in the ass

[spjunkies]

3 minutes ago, stoshuaj said:

cute but that’s asking for a foot in the ass

 

[LD0506]

[Die Hard]

On 11/5/2020 at 3:21 PM, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Drug use does lead to other crimes so we will see how that works out...

If a white collar individual has a coke habit.... are we truly concerned what future crimes it could lead to?

 

Or perhaps it has more to do with socio-economic variables?

 

From my experience, a lot of people have drug addictions. But are high functioning contributing members of society.

[LD0506]

It gets tiresome hearing people talk about drug use as some moral failing. People self medicate in many ways because they are suffering on some level. Poverty is the biggest cause of drug abuse but depression and despair, alienation, insecurity and simple loneliness do a lot of the heavy lifting.

 

None of that is an excuse, it's an explanation. There is a lot of drug abuse we tolerate and even promote in this country, alcohol being first on the list, because it is hard, painfully desperately hard to address those root causes, especially since each and every one of them is personal and subjective.

 

Yes, it is a choice but it is a choice between doing this bad thing or feeling even worse. Just piling on blaming people adds to their reasons to use. You cannot put someone on a gurney, hand them a scalpel and say "Ok, there's where your appendix is, GO!" They need help, the helpers need help, we ALL need some kind of help. 

 

Ugh.....<stfu Dave.....>

 

 

 

[mcsluggo]

On 11/5/2020 at 11:50 AM, gbear said:

I think the biggest victory is probably Oregon where they decriminalized possession of drugs.  There is still a civil penalty of up to $100 , but no jail time.  They expect it to be cost neutral when they pay for more drug treatment facilities with the fines and reduced inmate counts, and moving some police funding toward drug treatment specialists.

 

To my mind, that is a huge victory about which I don't see many talking.

 

they better do a GREAT job with this..and quickly.   There will be a lot of people sharpening their knives as they watch this one...

On 11/5/2020 at 3:21 PM, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

Drug use does lead to other crimes so we will see how that works out...

 

i assume those crimes will still be illegal, and suitably prosecutable.

[China]

These Cities Replaced Cops With Social Workers, Medics, and People Without Guns

 

Eugene, Oregon

Mental health, crisis assistance

 

A group of activists in Eugene launched an unlikely alliance with local police 30 years ago to provide a new emergency response system. And it’s become a model for reformers around the country.

 

The program sends out two people, a medic and a crisis responder, instead of an armed cop. It’s called CAHOOTS — or Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets. In 2018, CAHOOTS executed 24,000 responses in Eugene and neighboring Springfield, with free service to anyone in a crisis. They roll up in a white van with medical supplies and blankets.

 

The program now handles about 20% of local 911 calls and costs $2.1 million a year — a tiny fraction of the combined Eugene and Springfield police budgets of $90 million, clinic coordinator Ben Brubaker recently told NPR.

 

The group estimates it’s saved $6 million in medical services costs.

 

Other cities exploring programs based on CAHOOTS include Olympia, Washington; Oakland, California; Denver; New York; Indianapolis; Portland; Austin; and Chicago.

 

Click on the link for more

[CousinsCowgirl84]

3 hours ago, Die Hard said:

If a white collar individual has a coke habit.... are we truly concerned what future crimes it could lead to?

 

Or perhaps it has more to do with socio-economic variables?

If you can’t afford your coke you shouldn’t do it 👍 

 

addiction can be defined as when what you are doing begins to cause serious problems in your relationships or health but you continue to to them.

 

 

 

i guess I am less worried about a guy that does cocain once in a while then I am about a guy shooting up heroin while his kid is in the back seat.

3 hours ago, LD0506 said:

It gets tiresome hearing people talk about drug use as some moral failing. People self medicate in many ways because they are suffering on some level. Poverty is the biggest cause of drug abuse but depression and despair, alienation, insecurity and simple loneliness do a lot of the heavy lifting.

 

None of that is an excuse, it's an explanation. There is a lot of drug abuse we tolerate and even promote in this country, alcohol being first on the list, because it is hard, painfully desperately hard to address those root causes, especially since each and every one of them is personal and subjective.

 

Yes, it is a choice but it is a choice between doing this bad thing or feeling even worse. Just piling on blaming people adds to their reasons to use. You cannot put someone on a gurney, hand them a scalpel and say "Ok, there's where your appendix is, GO!" They need help, the helpers need help, we ALL need some kind of help. 

 

Ugh.....<stfu Dave.....>

 

 

 

 

There are also a lot of people who are just wired genetically to use drugs and many who gave have no excuse. There isnt a monolithic reason.  
 

Are people poor because they use drugs or do they use drugs because they are poor?  Are you more likely to be poor and be a drug user because your parents were addicts?

Edited November 9, 2020 by CousinsCowgirl84

[Cooked Crack]