After three years in which its streets became a hellscape of open drug use, rocketing fatal overdoses and rampant crime, Oregon has learnt a painful lesson. And hopefully so has everyone else who believes that the best way to deal with the menace of deadly drugs such as fentanyl and heroin is to decriminalise them. Oregon governor Tina Kotek this week reversed large parts of a controversial 2021 law known as Measure 110 and restored criminal penalties for possession of hard drugs and court-ordered treatment for offenders. From September 1, drug possession in the West Coast state will be punishable by up to six months in prison. The U-turn brings an ignominious end to America's most radical experiment in Left-wing drug policy - a supposedly humane and enlightened policy of de-fanging the oppressive criminal justice system, allowing drug abusers to indulge their addiction in peace. Suffice to say, it has been nothing short of a complete disaster. The real puzzle for many Oregonians - particularly inhabitants of its drug-battered city of Portland - is why it took their leaders so long to accept defeat.
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