Jo Marney | Contributed
Dem. Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has finally opted to scrap a bill that would have allowed drug addicts to shoot up on city streets in designated areas.
The ridiculous concept was to allow addicts a controlled area to take their drugs in which officials could provide them with sterilized needles and offer help for their addiction.
California has suffered an ever-increasing problem with drug addiction and drug-related crime. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) statistics, drug use by Californians increased from 8.3 percent since 2020.
While the state has a relatively low level of drug overdoses, fatalities relating to fentanyl abuse are on the rise and the potent opioid now accounts for 51 percent of all fatal overdoses in the Golden State.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, “much of the violent crime and property crime in Northern California is attributed to illicit drug trafficking and abuse.
“Rivalries among trafficking groups, particularly street gangs, over control of drug market territory generate significant levels of violent crime such as assault, homicide, and robbery in metropolitan areas.”
Rather than cracking down on the gangs who are supplying addicts and attempting to get drugs off Californian streets, woke San Francisco opted to run a pilot program where addicts were actively encouraged to take drugs on designated sections of public streets with school kids and members of the public forced to walk past the depraved scenes.
But after admitting that the drug sites were resulting in “unintended consequences”, Newsom announced yesterday that he would be vetoing the bill:
“I have long supported the cutting edge of harm reduction strategies,” he wrote to legislators.
“However, I am acutely concerned about operations of safe injection sites without strong, engaged local leadership and well-documented, vetted and thoughtful operational and sustainability plans.”
He said that he had become aware that the plan may lead to more harm than good and seemed to blame the bill’s failures on a lack of planning and structure rather than admit that it was a dangerous, nonsensical idea to start with:
“It is possible that these sites would help improve the safety and health of our urban areas, but if done without a strong plan, they could work against this purpose.
“These unintended consequences in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland cannot be taken lightly.
“Worsening drug consumption challenges in these areas is not a risk we can take.”
Maddeningly, he went on to suggest that with more help from local leaders and health authorities, the scheme might work to reduce addiction and fatal overdoses, prompting the frightening thought that a revised bill might be on the cards.
Scott Wiener, a Californian lawmaker who wrote the bill vehemently defended the concept:
[The bill is] “not a radical bill by any stretch of the imagination,” he insisted to the New York Times.
“We don’t need additional studies or working groups to determine whether safe consumption sites are effective.
“We know from decades of experience and numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies that they work.”
He criticized Newsom for vetoing the bill but said he and other lawmakers in the state would continue to press for controlled drug-taking sites on Californian streets, and it seems after Newsom’s latest statements that he may have his backing to propose a new version of the same dangerous idea.
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