I seem to recall a similar argument being made against condoms being readily available. “Those harlots will bed any man they please if they don’t have to worry about getting pregnant or catching a disease! The horror!” Nevermind that condoms make the issue moot: getting pregnant or catching a disease is the only reason not to bed any man you please.
And what do you know? Now that sex does not equal babies, women can and routinely do exit toxic relationships instead of being trapped in them for life. “The horror” indeed.
This doesn’t really apply to the present situation, though, because using drugs still ruins your life, exactly as before, and it still kills you, just slightly slower.
You’re confusing cause with effect. Portland has a poverty problem, not a drug problem. Housing prices there are extreme. Wages there are nowhere close enough to afford housing there. This has displaced a buttload of people out of their homes and onto the street. These people have nothing left of their old lives, nowhere to go, and nothing to do but get high and detach themselves from their horrible reality as much as possible, especially now that it’s over 100°F outside. Better than slowly and horribly dying of hyperthermia in a prison cell while fully conscious and sober, like what’s happening in some other parts of the country.
Oregon has serious problems—catastrophic problems, even—but drug legalization isn’t one of them. It’s just a convenient scapegoat for people who don’t want to solve those problems.
I seem to recall a similar argument being made against condoms being readily available. “Those harlots will bed any man they please if they don’t have to worry about getting pregnant or catching a disease! The horror!” Nevermind that condoms make the issue moot: getting pregnant or catching a disease is the only reason not to bed any man you please.
And what do you know? Now that sex does not equal babies, women can and routinely do exit toxic relationships instead of being trapped in them for life. “The horror” indeed.
This doesn’t really apply to the present situation, though, because using drugs still ruins your life, exactly as before, and it still kills you, just slightly slower.
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How is that relevant? Nobody proposed to make it legal for people to use drugs out in the open. Presumably they’ll still be arrested if they do.
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You’re confusing cause with effect. Portland has a poverty problem, not a drug problem. Housing prices there are extreme. Wages there are nowhere close enough to afford housing there. This has displaced a buttload of people out of their homes and onto the street. These people have nothing left of their old lives, nowhere to go, and nothing to do but get high and detach themselves from their horrible reality as much as possible, especially now that it’s over 100°F outside. Better than slowly and horribly dying of hyperthermia in a prison cell while fully conscious and sober, like what’s happening in some other parts of the country.
Oregon has serious problems—catastrophic problems, even—but drug legalization isn’t one of them. It’s just a convenient scapegoat for people who don’t want to solve those problems.
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