<story><title>To revive Portland, officials seek to ban public drug use</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/us/portland-oregon-drug-laws.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmcphers</author><text>I live in the Seattle area, which is struggling with public drug use just like Portland.&lt;p&gt;Like Portland, we&amp;#x27;ve lived for decades with very progressive politicians who have lead successful decriminalization efforts and spent huge sums of public funds on treatment and harm reduction programs.&lt;p&gt;After several decades and many, many millions of dollars spent, the problem is, by every measure, absolutely the worst it&amp;#x27;s ever been. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;kingcounty.gov&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;dept&amp;#x2F;dph&amp;#x2F;health-safety&amp;#x2F;safety-injury-prevention&amp;#x2F;overdose-prevention-response&amp;#x2F;data-dashboards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;kingcounty.gov&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;dept&amp;#x2F;dph&amp;#x2F;health-safety&amp;#x2F;safety-inju...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>duped</author><text>Is there a measure for how this compares to places without social programs for drug addicts? This is a legitimate question, I don&amp;#x27;t know if they&amp;#x27;ve done better or worse in the context of the failed war on drugs.&lt;p&gt;Because the country as a whole has been completely ravaged by opiate addiction. It&amp;#x27;s not just Portland and Seattle. West Virginia doesn&amp;#x27;t have anything like this, and it&amp;#x27;s just as badly afflicted. It may be less visible because it doesn&amp;#x27;t have the same population density.</text></comment>
<story><title>To revive Portland, officials seek to ban public drug use</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/us/portland-oregon-drug-laws.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmcphers</author><text>I live in the Seattle area, which is struggling with public drug use just like Portland.&lt;p&gt;Like Portland, we&amp;#x27;ve lived for decades with very progressive politicians who have lead successful decriminalization efforts and spent huge sums of public funds on treatment and harm reduction programs.&lt;p&gt;After several decades and many, many millions of dollars spent, the problem is, by every measure, absolutely the worst it&amp;#x27;s ever been. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;kingcounty.gov&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;dept&amp;#x2F;dph&amp;#x2F;health-safety&amp;#x2F;safety-injury-prevention&amp;#x2F;overdose-prevention-response&amp;#x2F;data-dashboards&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;kingcounty.gov&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;dept&amp;#x2F;dph&amp;#x2F;health-safety&amp;#x2F;safety-inju...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>boopmaster</author><text>I’m reading there that fentanyl appears to be the culprit.&lt;p&gt;I realize it is a drug, but not sure if that’s even supposed to be in the drugs.&lt;p&gt;Is this really a story of drug dealers cutting the drugs that people wanted.. into a lethal concoction?&lt;p&gt;(Sorry I really don’t know, are users looking for fentanyl?)</text></comment>