<story><title>In effect, Seattle is decriminalizing the use of hard drugs</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/opinion/sunday/opioid-crisis-drug-seattle.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>just_lurkin</author><text>The reporters designation of &amp;quot;figured out&amp;quot; seems to stem more from the fact that the solution fits his own view than any actual real evidence. There is mention of the difficulties such lax policies has brought to the city, but they are waved away as being &amp;quot;growing pains&amp;quot; toward a new utopia.&lt;p&gt;I can&amp;#x27;t say, living here, that I feel that the problem is solved. I view the needles outside my apartment as evidence to the contrary - though I suppose I&amp;#x27;m an ignoramus for thinking that.&lt;p&gt;Simply strolling through Pioneer Square or most parts of International District paints a significantly different picture. One can dine at a Chinese place on Jackson and look out their window and see junkies peddling stolen goods at the bus stop. The non-enforcement of so-called &amp;quot;petty crime&amp;quot; used to fund drug addictions is egregious and continues to undermine the already little sense of community there is in this city of transients.&lt;p&gt;What I&amp;#x27;m trying to say is that while I appreciate the difference in approach from the traditional one, I do believe that there needs to be an honest discussion about the limits of rehabilitation. More research on the subject, as it relates to Seattle, shows that there are many, many, people who take advantage of these lax policies to abuse the system, hurting others who actually need help.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>xenocyon</author><text>At least part of the cause of the visible squalor we see in Seattle is that the tough-on-crime crowd has consistently opposed safe injection, harm reduction, trash pickup, housing-first, and other evidence-based policies in favor of expensive, inhumane, and pointless measures like sweeps and incarceration. Any measure the city government takes that is not overtly cruel gets slammed as coddling the homeless or &amp;quot;attracting&amp;quot; homeless to the city, despite the fact that the data show this trope to be a fiction.</text></comment>
<story><title>In effect, Seattle is decriminalizing the use of hard drugs</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/opinion/sunday/opioid-crisis-drug-seattle.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>just_lurkin</author><text>The reporters designation of &amp;quot;figured out&amp;quot; seems to stem more from the fact that the solution fits his own view than any actual real evidence. There is mention of the difficulties such lax policies has brought to the city, but they are waved away as being &amp;quot;growing pains&amp;quot; toward a new utopia.&lt;p&gt;I can&amp;#x27;t say, living here, that I feel that the problem is solved. I view the needles outside my apartment as evidence to the contrary - though I suppose I&amp;#x27;m an ignoramus for thinking that.&lt;p&gt;Simply strolling through Pioneer Square or most parts of International District paints a significantly different picture. One can dine at a Chinese place on Jackson and look out their window and see junkies peddling stolen goods at the bus stop. The non-enforcement of so-called &amp;quot;petty crime&amp;quot; used to fund drug addictions is egregious and continues to undermine the already little sense of community there is in this city of transients.&lt;p&gt;What I&amp;#x27;m trying to say is that while I appreciate the difference in approach from the traditional one, I do believe that there needs to be an honest discussion about the limits of rehabilitation. More research on the subject, as it relates to Seattle, shows that there are many, many, people who take advantage of these lax policies to abuse the system, hurting others who actually need help.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rayiner</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s interesting people always point to Portugal to support the idea that decriminalization is the way to address substance abuse. But compare Sweden, which has similar levels of drug dependency to Portugal, but takes a &amp;quot;zero tolerance&amp;quot; approach to drug use: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Drug_policy_of_Sweden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Drug_policy_of_Sweden&lt;/a&gt;. While Sweden does include treatment as part of its drug policy, that is a complement to, not replacement for, strict law enforcement.&lt;p&gt;(Swedes are very anti-drug. While a narrow majority of even &lt;i&gt;Republicans&lt;/i&gt; in the US support legalization of cannabis, 83% of Swedes support keeping it illegal: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-sweden-cannabis&amp;#x2F;in-anti-drug-sweden-investors-take-shine-to-cannabis-stocks-idUSKBN1GZ2FQ.&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;us-sweden-cannabis&amp;#x2F;in-anti-d...&lt;/a&gt;)</text></comment>