Guy Farmer: Don’t legalize hard drugs

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bout a week ago the U.S. House of Representatives decided to decriminalize marijuana, still considered to be a Schedule One dangerous drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration, on a 228-164 vote. Fortunately, however, this measure has zero chance of passing in a Republican-controlled Senate.

Oregon voters went way beyond marijuana decriminalization last month when they opted to legalize hard drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and addictive prescription drugs like oxycodone. My friend and fellow columnist, Shelly Aldean, a highly respected former city supervisor, wrote an important and informative column earlier this month warning about the dangers of legalizing hard drugs.

In her well-reasoned and well-written Appeal column, Aldean asked why Oregon voters decided to legalize dangerous drugs. “Was it a desire to hasten the decline of their state’s social stability and economic prosperity, or were the people of Oregon simply deceived by the machinations of ‘chaos merchant’ George Soros?” she asked. My answer: All of the above, egged-on by ultra-progressive drug enablers like Soros, who seems to hate America.

The Oregonians who voted to legalize dangerous drugs are the same people who talked about “mostly peaceful protests” while violent anarchists attacked police officers and set buildings on fire in downtown Portland for months on end. Those same “peaceful” protesters tore down statues of every white person they could find as they joined with Black Lives Matter agitators to demand defunding of the police.

In her column, Aldean cited a Eugene Register-Guard opinion piece by a district attorney and the director of a community-based addiction treatment program that said Measure 110, which legalized hard drugs, “would dismantle the only pathway to addiction recovery for many Oregon youth and adults – court diversion programs which motivate thousands of people… to start their journey toward a lifetime of recovery.”

Make no mistake about it, there are people who want to decriminalize crime. I think I know how Carson City District Attorney Jason Woodbury and Sheriff Ken Furlong feel about that dubious proposition. Their mission is to keep our community safe and as drug-free as possible, and they take that mission seriously.

Nevada voters narrowly approved so-called “recreational” marijuana in 2016 despite the fact that 14 of 17 counties, including Carson City, opposed the statewide measure drafted by the pot industry. Then, in mid-2017, our local Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of recreational pot although two of the city officials who voted for legal pot had obvious conflicts of interest.

Next, in 2018, the marijuana industry contributed more than $70,000 to Gov. Steve Sisolak’s successful gubernatorial campaign. His first Director of Administration, Deonne Contine, resigned after it was revealed she held pot licenses. She previously was head of the taxation department, the department who had decision making powers over who would receive marijuana licenses.

Let’s face it. Sisolak has a pot-friendly administration.

John Walters, who was President George W. Bush’s drug czar, recently co-authored with Naomi Schaefer Riley of the American Enterprise Institute a Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing legalization of hard drugs “means more drug use, which increases impersonal violence, including abuse and neglect of children. … When kids have to be put in foster care, parental substance abuse is usually the underlying reason.”

“Where the rule of law starts to erode, we need to ask ourselves what sort of world will our children and grandchildren inherit?” Aldean asked. Good question, Shelly. My hope is that our state legislators will resist any further drug legalization, and I believe they will.

Grandpa Guy is adamantly opposed to further drug legalization.