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And this is yet again why I'm on the left and not a liberal. Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing This a

And this is yet again why I'm on the left and not a liberal. Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing This action commits state resources and funds to snatching people up, so it's not like we can't afford the better way - we're just allocating our people and efforts to ineffective methods. Chasing around users to lock them in cages for 20 years is way more expensive than actually solving the problem of abuse. The only reason a better way stays impossible is because there's an ideological commitment on the part of mainstream political beliefs to keeping it impossible.

wombat-man 3y ago
I mean they aren't even bothering to go after opiate users in CA at least based on anecdotes I've heard. Maybe official decriminalization is a step too far for newsom.
- ssalka 3y ago
  There is a big difference between opiates, which are widely abused, and psychedelics, which have far lesser risk of abuse and are generally safer physically to consume. I agree with caesil that this is posturing to support his presidential run, whether for public perception or lobbying/fundraising reasons.
caesil 3y ago
This has nothing to do with the center left versus the far left and everything to do with the fact that Gavin Newsom personally wants to run for president.
- meroes 3y ago
  (Sarcastically) Agreed! There’s lots of hit pieces against Newsom getting lots of air time! On Reddit there were 3-4 different ones on most news subs and then the Israel-Palestine news took over everything on Reddit. Man I need to get off social media as it’s completely overrun with moneyed/political interests.
  - inputError 3y ago
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  - thejazzman 3y ago
    Welcome to 2015, my friend!
itsoktocry 3y ago
>Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing Really? Can you point anywhere where drug problems are "solved"? Portugal used to be the poster child for this, but opinion is shifting because it hasn't solved anything[0]. We are trying the same in Canada, with similarly mediocre results. [0]https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-dru...
- dundarious 3y ago
  Portugal is not a wealthy country and one of the areas where funding has dropped significantly below adequate levels is the support infrastructure around decriminalization. As with all austerity politics, there are loud reactionary voices who prefer the punitive approach.
  - rayiner 3y ago
    Drugs is a solved problem in most Asian countries that are much poorer than Portugal.
    - dundarious 3y ago
      Did the Duterte approach "work" in an unambiguous and uncontroversial way? Many such examples exist to dismiss your glib point.
    - arroz 3y ago
      It’s not a solved problem. It’s a nonexistent problem. You can’t solve a problem you don’t have.
- mirashii 3y ago
  From the article you linked: > João Goulão — head of Portugal’s national institute on drug use and the architect of decriminalization — admitted to the local press in December that “what we have today no longer serves as an example to anyone.” Rather than fault the policy, however, he blames a lack of funding. > Twenty years ago, “we were quite successful in dealing with the big problem, the epidemic of heroin use and all the related effects,” Goulão said in an interview with The Washington Post. “But we have had a kind of disinvestment, a freezing in our response … and we lost some efficacy.” The story turns out to be much the same as a common trope for those who wish to undo successful policies here in the US: under-fund them as sabotage, and then call them failed when the lack of funding causes lower efficacy. Additionally, prohibitionist policies and the policing drug use has been rising (see 24,25,26 at https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13011-021-00394-7 https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1...) over the second half of the time drugs have been decriminalized, so the rollbacks in societal gains need to be taken with a grain of salt.
rayiner 3y ago
> Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing Doesn’t seem to be working in California. In reality, it seems like the only solution to drug problems is a culture that ostracizes drug users while harshly punishing drug merchants.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
weaksauce 3y ago
If you read the veto letter from him it's pretty reasonable in what he's willing to agree to: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SB-58-Veto-1.pdf https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SB-58-Veto... he's not anti-mushrooms but he's anti-unfettered access to mushrooms without guidelines in place. I don't know if it's the right call or not but mushrooms are something that's not really fit for general consumption; cannabis being fairly benign and understood is a different issue altogether and one that makes sense to have fairly unfettered access to at a population level.
konfusinomicon 3y ago
someone that commits a drug crime that results in a 20 year sentence wouldn't benefit from decriminalization at all. I feel like you'd have to get caught with several metric tons of mushrooms and be clearly involved in a massive distribution enterprise to pull 20 years
- kristopolous 3y ago
  ...or be black... In the deep south there's black people that get lifetime terms for $20 in weed
jonmayer 3y ago
To my great sadness, I have known too many people who I consider to be addicts and abusers of drugs, both illegal and prescription. Except I've never met anyone with an abusive or addictive relationship to psilocybin. I just haven't seen it. Seriously, when was the last time you heard of a family giving someone a mushroom intervention?
ddd00001 3y ago
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wombat-man 3y ago

I mean they aren't even bothering to go after opiate users in CA at least based on anecdotes I've heard. Maybe official decriminalization is a step too far for newsom.

ssalka 3y ago
There is a big difference between opiates, which are widely abused, and psychedelics, which have far lesser risk of abuse and are generally safer physically to consume. I agree with caesil that this is posturing to support his presidential run, whether for public perception or lobbying/fundraising reasons.

caesil 3y ago

This has nothing to do with the center left versus the far left and everything to do with the fact that Gavin Newsom personally wants to run for president.

meroes 3y ago
(Sarcastically) Agreed! There’s lots of hit pieces against Newsom getting lots of air time! On Reddit there were 3-4 different ones on most news subs and then the Israel-Palestine news took over everything on Reddit. Man I need to get off social media as it’s completely overrun with moneyed/political interests.
- inputError 3y ago
  [dead]
- thejazzman 3y ago
  Welcome to 2015, my friend!

itsoktocry 3y ago

>Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing Really? Can you point anywhere where drug problems are "solved"? Portugal used to be the poster child for this, but opinion is shifting because it hasn't solved anything[0]. We are trying the same in Canada, with similarly mediocre results. [0]https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-dru...

dundarious 3y ago
Portugal is not a wealthy country and one of the areas where funding has dropped significantly below adequate levels is the support infrastructure around decriminalization. As with all austerity politics, there are loud reactionary voices who prefer the punitive approach.
- rayiner 3y ago
  Drugs is a solved problem in most Asian countries that are much poorer than Portugal.
  - dundarious 3y ago
    Did the Duterte approach "work" in an unambiguous and uncontroversial way? Many such examples exist to dismiss your glib point.
  - arroz 3y ago
    It’s not a solved problem. It’s a nonexistent problem. You can’t solve a problem you don’t have.
mirashii 3y ago
From the article you linked: > João Goulão — head of Portugal’s national institute on drug use and the architect of decriminalization — admitted to the local press in December that “what we have today no longer serves as an example to anyone.” Rather than fault the policy, however, he blames a lack of funding. > Twenty years ago, “we were quite successful in dealing with the big problem, the epidemic of heroin use and all the related effects,” Goulão said in an interview with The Washington Post. “But we have had a kind of disinvestment, a freezing in our response … and we lost some efficacy.” The story turns out to be much the same as a common trope for those who wish to undo successful policies here in the US: under-fund them as sabotage, and then call them failed when the lack of funding causes lower efficacy. Additionally, prohibitionist policies and the policing drug use has been rising (see 24,25,26 at https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13011-021-00394-7 https://substanceabusepolicy.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1...) over the second half of the time drugs have been decriminalized, so the rollbacks in societal gains need to be taken with a grain of salt.

rayiner 3y ago

> Drug problems are solved by better access to quality health care and not punitive policing Doesn’t seem to be working in California. In reality, it seems like the only solution to drug problems is a culture that ostracizes drug users while harshly punishing drug merchants.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

weaksauce 3y ago

If you read the veto letter from him it's pretty reasonable in what he's willing to agree to: https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SB-58-Veto-1.pdf https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SB-58-Veto... he's not anti-mushrooms but he's anti-unfettered access to mushrooms without guidelines in place. I don't know if it's the right call or not but mushrooms are something that's not really fit for general consumption; cannabis being fairly benign and understood is a different issue altogether and one that makes sense to have fairly unfettered access to at a population level.

konfusinomicon 3y ago

someone that commits a drug crime that results in a 20 year sentence wouldn't benefit from decriminalization at all. I feel like you'd have to get caught with several metric tons of mushrooms and be clearly involved in a massive distribution enterprise to pull 20 years

kristopolous 3y ago
...or be black... In the deep south there's black people that get lifetime terms for $20 in weed

jonmayer 3y ago

To my great sadness, I have known too many people who I consider to be addicts and abusers of drugs, both illegal and prescription. Except I've never met anyone with an abusive or addictive relationship to psilocybin. I just haven't seen it. Seriously, when was the last time you heard of a family giving someone a mushroom intervention?

ddd00001 3y ago

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