Ah, Portland, Oregon. That leftist bastion of tolerance…well, apparently not since they decriminalized hard drugs a few years ago and are now experiencing their 911 call centers being “overwhelmed” with overdose (OD) calls. Different kind of tolerance, I suppose. I digress.
Well, on Monday, Portland Public Safety Commissioner Rene Gonzalez sent out a tweet (or an X) telling Portland residents not to call 911 “except in event of life/death emergency or crime in progress (or chance of apprehending suspect).”
Our 911 system is getting hammered this morning with a multiple person incident - multiple overdoses in northwest park blocks.
— Commissioner Rene Gonzalez (@CommissionerRG) October 2, 2023
Please do not call 911 except in event of life/death emergency or crime in progress (or chance of apprehending suspect).
For non-emergency please use…
Isn’t it funny how Gonzalez put that caveat in parenthesis basically saying, ‘You can call 911 if there’s a crime in progress, but don’t really rely on any help if there’s no chance of catching the suspect.’
Essentially, don’t call us until you’ve already been victimized, and even then, don’t call us unless your level of victimhood is death.
Gonzalez, as seen above, cited being overwhelmed with OD calls. Geez, I wonder why ODs happen so frequently in Portland?
According to the CATO Institute:
In November 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, which decriminalized the possession for personal use of small amounts of all drugs, including cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamine, and oxycodone. Oregon is the only U.S. state to have implemented this policy.
Minor possession in Oregon became a civil infraction on February 1, 2021; violators receive a citation and $100 fine, which can be waived by calling a hotline to screen for substance use disorder.
However, as CATO pointed out, some people think the measure didn’t go far enough as they didn’t “legalize production and sale of drugs.”
Oh, okay. So the problem is that people aren’t allowed to make and deal drugs, because it keeps the black market vital to the distribution of said drugs. Got it.
I can understand that argument from the standpoint of not knowing what kind of heroin you might be getting from a drug cartel, but you’d know if the convenience store down the street was manufacturing and selling them. In a warped way, there’s a logic in that.
Or, maybe just don’t have the government encouraging hard drug use in the first place. Novel idea, I know.
All that aside, don’t eliminate the illegality of something and then complain when you’re overwhelmed with the results of the decriminalization. Your first priority as a municipality is to protect and serve, not pick and choose.
Then again, Portland is a s**thole. So, there’s that.
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