Legalizing hard drug use in Oregon adds to problem

 National Review:

To send a message to residents and state lawmakers amid a spiraling drug crisis and rampant homelessness, the city council in Portland, Ore., voted unanimously Wednesday to approve an emergency ordinance banning the use of hard drugs in public.

The emergency ordinance amends the city code that already prohibits the open consumption of alcohol and marijuana in places like public parks and on sidewalks to also include hard drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamines.

But the vote was mostly symbolic because of Measure 110, the ballot initiative approved by voters in 2020 that decriminalized user amounts of street drugs, like heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamines, and that forbids local governments from regulating their use. State lawmakers would have to change the law for Portland to act on its ordinance.

Mayor Ted Wheeler had floated a similar crackdown on public use of hard drugs over the summer, but temporarily backed down. At the start of Wednesday afternoon’s meeting, he said he hoped the council’s actions would “inspire” state lawmakers to take the drug crisis seriously.

“The last time I saw someone consuming what I believe to be fentanyl publicly on our streets was less than five minutes ago, three blocks from city hall,” he said. “This is a significant issue.”
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Decriminalizing hard drug use made the problem worse.  There is more evidence that liberalism has become a failed ideology in certain sectors of the US.