A Better Approach to Vice in California – Orange County Register

When it comes to “harmful” issues – recreational drug use, prostitution, drug addiction – legislators tend to avoid proposing helpful policy reforms for obvious reasons. They don’t want their enemies to portray them as socially destructive, and the public often favors “tough” policies that often make matters worse.

We are therefore pleased to see that some California legislators are willing to try a different approach, even though the usual political controversies persist. Several bills introduced in the new legislative session would move towards ending certain Prohibitionist provisions in generally responsible ways.

Senator Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, leads the charge. His Senate Bill 519 would eliminate hallucinogens like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD and would erase the criminal records of Californians with a history of possession. Last year, Oregon phased out psychedelic mushrooms and several cities (Oakland, Denver) passed similar legislation.

Weiner is also the author of Senate Bill 57, which authorizes San Francisco, Los Angeles (city and county) and Oakland to operate safe injection sites that provide “a sanitary space supervised by trained personnel creation, where drug users can pre-administer the drug, provide a sterile consumable supply, and provide access or referral to substance use disorder treatment. ”

The senator also sponsored Senate Bill 357, which would end prostitution. The Democratic Legislature delayed those bills to avoid putting Governor Gavin Newsom in an awkward position in the recall election. Even in liberal California, such measures are a hard sell. For example, the GOP has described injection site bills as “taxpayer and funded dispensaries”.

This editorial endorsed SB 519. Hallucinogens are not physically addictive and decriminalization enables medical research that could lead to breakthrough treatments for substance use psychedelics to treat mental health problems.

In the past, we have supported needle exchange programs, which have helped reduce the spread of disease. Safe injection sites are somewhat different, but they align with the harm reduction policies we advocate – the idea that policymakers should help people minimize the worst impact. of addictive behaviors instead of emphasizing unrealistic abstinence goals. We like the idea of ​​trying out pilot programs and measuring the results.

Decryption is a conventional alternative to failed drug war policies, which, as conservative icon William F. Buckley argued in 1996, diverts “smart energy away from countervailing” dealing with the problem of addiction,” wastes taxpayer resources, and encourages “civil, judicial, and criminal proceedings involving police states. ”

Among recent bills, we found SB 357 to be the most recent call. As they say, prostitution is the oldest profession in the world, so nominal elimination is wise for the same reasons as legalizing drugs makes sense – although we obviously don’t recommend it either. encourage. Proponents are right that vagrant laws are used primarily against minorities and transgender people, which is false, but the measure doesn’t actually discriminate against prostitution or solicitation.