Blue State Regrets

There is a new poll from one of the politically bluest states in the nation expressing regret for their liberal ways. It didn’t take long.

In 2020 Oregonians voted nearly 60-40 percent to decriminalize drugs, a fairytale notion supported by libertarians and leftists. The results were the exact opposite of what advocates claimed would happen. Social problems, crime, addiction, and homelessness exploded. New tax money from legal drug sales disappeared into the government bureaucracy with no visible benefits to society.

Now, a poll by Portland-based DHM Research finds that support has flipped – 63 percent of Oregonians support reinstating criminal punishments for drug possession.

“Oregon has turned into an international spectacle and I think we looked at each other and realize that we made an enormous mistake,” Portland-based trial attorney Kristin Olson told Fox News.

A majority of every demographic in the poll, including younger Oregon voters ages 18-30, now support reinstatement of criminal penalties for drug possession and use.

“I think we didn’t realize that what we were signing up for was the deterioration of civilized norms and the public spaces being ceded to people in late-stage drug addiction and engaged in all sorts of criminal activity to keep that addiction going,” Olsen said.

An audit also found the state’s health authority could not provide data showing how hundreds of millions of tax dollars earmarked for addiction services through new decriminalization policies were spent.

On another note, Quest Diagnostics recently looked at 10.6 million workplace drug test results and found that positive tests for marijuana following workplace accidents are now at the highest levels in 25 years.  Not surprisingly, states that have legalized medical or recreational use had higher workplace test positivity rates.