One of the wonders of the Federation of States in the US is a ready source of beta testers for new governance ideas. A majority of voters in Oregon in this el

One of the wonders of the Federation of States in the US is a ready source of beta testers for new governance ideas. A majority of voters in Oregon in this election have voted to decriminalize all drugs. The rest of the States get to see if that was a good idea and decide if they should consider it. There are enough legal backstops at the Federal level to snap this back to criminalization, well, instantly. Citizens in those other States who see the Oregon model as a better deal for them have the opportunity to move there. And probably will. Drugs “are a hell of a drug” and moving will sound a lot easier to many heavy users than doing the hard work of breaking an addiction. That migration legacy won’t change so quickly. I also feel for those who are being put in the middle of this social experiment against their individual will, especially the kids. But kids survived the communes of the 60s and, ironically, probably some of these now-adults are the sort who will be motivated by this. If the 60s-80s were the California period, and 90s-10s the PNW period (starting with grunge), this might be a big, long nail that seals the PNW period in its coffin. PS: If I were a cynical sort, I would wonder if CA and WA were working behind the scenes to make this happen. What an elegant way to offload a social burden and deflect attention onto someone else. “You think parts of SF are bad, well check out today’s Portland. SF doesn’t look so bad now, eh?”