Portland Safety Commissioner: "Well-intentioned Things Have Had Negative Impacts"

Portland Safety Commissioner:  "Well-intentioned Things Have Had Negative Impacts".   Or we might say "really naive people who are want to feel good about government operations have had really negative impacts."  My guess is that the Portland Safety Commissioner was gung-ho for these "things".

On Monday, Portland’s safety commissioner, Rene Gonzalez, announced via social media:

Our 911 system is getting hammered this morning with a multiple person incident — multiple overdoses in northwest park blocks. Please do not call 911 except in event of life/death emergency or crime in progress (or chance of apprehending suspect). For non-emergency please use 503-823-3333

Appearing on the show “On Balance,” Gonzalez told host Leland Vittert that the system was swamped and something had to be done. She said that Measure 110, which decriminalized the possession of drugs and reduced many felonies to misdemeanors, was supposed to provide support services to addicts. However, the effort was curtailed due to the arrival of COVID-19.

But not everyone in Portland is using drugs. The city is home to law-abiding citizens. So why should they not have access to 911 because the system is overloaded with overdoses? Gonzalez told Vittert:

You know, the combination of Measure 110 and the 9th Circuit law on outdoor camping has really tied the city’s hands to address these issues. Frankly, we were probably too tolerant and accepting as a city even without those things on some of these behaviors that really destroy livability for everyone else,” Gonzalez said.

It’s going to take multiple steps (to fix). There’s no two ways about it, and you need all levels of government working in the same direction. We’ve been pushing certain forms of judicial reform for the last decade in the state and in our county. We’re now paying the piper for that. Some well-intentioned things have had some really negative impacts.

Gonzalez admitted that the city needs to focus its efforts on “families and entrepreneurs and those who build organizations in our policy discussions.” He said too much emphasis has been placed on the users and migratory homeless.

Some former decriminalization advocates have come to the realization that offering addicts recovery help isn't enough.   When drugs were criminalized and there was a real threat of jail, some participated in recovery programs.  

EUGENE, Ore.—Soon after Oregon became the first state to decriminalize all drugs, Officer Jose Alvarez stopped arresting people for possession and began giving out tickets with the number for a rehab helpline. 

Most of the people smoking fentanyl or meth on this city’s streets balled them up and tossed them onto the ground. 

“Those tickets frankly seemed like a waste of time,” said Alvarez, who stopped issuing them a few months after the law went into effect.

Nearly three years into an experiment that proponents hoped would spark a nationwide relaxation of drug laws, many in Oregon have turned against the decriminalization initiative known as Measure 110, which passed with 58% support in 2020. 

People sprawled on sidewalks and using fentanyl with no fear of consequence have become a common sight in cities such as Eugene and Portland. Business owners and local leaders are upset, but so are liberal voters who hoped decriminalization would lead to more people getting help. In reality, few drug users are taking advantage of new state-funded rehabilitation programs.

Change appears likely. A coalition of city officials, police chiefs and district attorneys recently called on the state legislature to recriminalize hard drugs. A measure to do so is in the works for next year’s ballot. A recent poll found the majority of Oregonians support the idea.

The fundamental problem, according to law-enforcement officers and researchers, is that the threat of jail time hasn’t been replaced with a new incentive for people struggling with addiction to seek treatment. Some 6,000 tickets have been issued for drug possession since decriminalization went into effect in 2021, but just 92 people have called and completed assessments needed to connect them to services, according to the nonprofit that operates the helpline.