Three years after Oregon voters elected to decriminalize drugs, a new study has concluded that the first-in-the-nation law has not led to increased drug use or drug overdoses. The conclusion counters an increasingly common narrative that Oregon’s drug problem is unique in the country — and that decr...
It seems disingenuous to separate number of arrests from "actual frequency" when the data suggests that the ballot initiative actually made things worse. The lead researcher behind the study shows their bias with their conjecture:
"The study also looked at arrest rates for curfew violations, loitering, vagrancy, trespassing and disorderly conduct. Davis said arrests for those categories increased in Oregon after Measure 110 took effect but said there isn’t evidence to suggest the frequency of those offenses actually increased.
“I personally think it’s probably more … that the cops are like, ‘Well, I can’t arrest you for the drugs, but I told you to move along and you didn’t. So I’m giving you a ticket for that,’” Davis said."
They can say that despite the data, they think actual frequency of those offenses haven't increased, but equally valid to their gut feeling is the anecdotal evidence that homeless activity has greatly increased and most car lots now have 12ft. tall electric fences.
Umm, the article is about overdoes rates, not arrests. Clearly you have a bias. And you cherry picked your quote. You left off the prior, more important line
That study found that Ballot Measure 110 reduced the number of arrests for drug possession but did not lead to an increase in violent crime arrests. The study also looked at arrest rates for curfew violations...
Nothing in the article addresses stats on overdoses in general just overdose deaths.
We need to see year by year numbers on ODs, not just deaths.
There's this great book called "How to Lie With Statistics" and one of the examples they cite is "ZOMG! Murders are up 14% in the past 5 years!" But the piece they leave out is population growth.
If murders are up 14% but the population grew 20%, then the rate of murders is down, not up.
This is why I say, saying the number of overdose deaths, on it's own, is not a meaningful statistic.
Are people dying at the same rate as before 110 or have we just gotten better at treating what would have previously been fatal ODs?
There's no way to know that without the other half of the equation.
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Portland Fire & Rescue Station 1 in downtown Portland is one of the busiest in the city.
“We expect to be somewhere around or north of 12,000 calls this calendar year,” Firefighter Ryan Lougeay said. “This will potentially be the highest number of calls in the history of this station.”
and also:
"“Right now we repeat drug overdoses every day,” said Lougeay. “Down here we can see 10 to 30 fentanyl-related overdoses in a 24 hour period.”"