After becoming the first state in the nation to decriminalize hard drug use‚ including heroin‚ cocaine‚ and fentanyl‚ Oregon is reconsidering its decision due to a drastic increase in open-air drug use‚ the Telegraph reported.Police chiefs‚ district attorneys‚ and city officials are calling for Oregon lawmakers to partially or entirely reverse Measure 110‚ the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act. In 2020‚ Oregon voters opted to pass the referendum‚ claiming it would help to address the state’s drug addiction and overdose crisis by shifting focus to providing treatment options.“Law enforcement should spend more time on community safety‚ but Oregon law enforcement officers in 2017 arrested more than 8‚000 people in cases where simple drug possession was the most serious offense‚” Measure 110 states. “In many instances‚ the same people were arrested for drug possession‚ again and again‚ because they are unable to get treatment.”Under the measure‚ those in possession of a gram or less of hard drugs are subject to a ticket and a maximum fine of $100. Individuals can have the fine waived by calling a 24-hour hotline to seek treatment. Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner stated that approximately 6‚000 people have received the citations‚ but fewer than 125 called the hotline. Additionally‚ individuals are not penalized for failing to pay the fine. “We don’t have even really one successful example of somebody that went from a citation issued on the street to self-assessment to addiction services to a place of wellness‚” Skinner told Eugene City Council.He noted that Oregon is “on pace to shatter the record for overdose calls for service and shatter the record for overdose deaths.”“Police officers and firefighters are administering Narcan‚ lifesaving Narcan‚ at an alarming rate‚” Skinner added.According to a recent Emerson poll‚ 56% of Oregon voters want to repeal Measure 110.Law enforcement officials do not support a complete repeal of the act but are urging for drug possession to be a class A misdemeanor‚ compelling drug addicts to seek treatment.Jason Edmiston‚ police chief in Hermiston‚ said‚ “We don’t believe a return to incarceration is the answer‚ but restoring a [class A] misdemeanor for possession with diversion opportunities is critically important.”Tiffany Edwards‚ vice president of policy and community development at Eugene Chamber of Commerce‚ told the Telegraph‚ “When measure 110 was passed‚ we in our community started to see a significant rise in crime and‚ in particular‚ open-air drug use.”“There were a lot of complaints from the business community. It is having a severe impact on our businesses‚ economic development‚ and the wellness of our community‚” she continued. “We recognised while Measure 110 coincided with the explosion of fentanyl in the U.S. in general‚ I think what we learned was that there were a lot of flaws in how the measure was implemented.”Democratic state Senator Kate Lieber said‚ “Everything’s on the table” when it comes to exploring solutions to make Oregon’s streets safer.Republican lawmakers recently wrote a letter to Democratic Governor Tina Kotek‚ urging her to call a special session to address the drug crisis. They insisted that “treatment should be a requirement‚ not a suggestion.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A professor at the University of Exeter in the U.K. has apparently justified Hamas' attack against Israel on October 7‚ suggesting that the terrorist group "had to act‚ and quickly so."Professor Ilan Pappe is reported to have denied that Hamas is a terrorist group‚ despite the group overtly targeting noncombatants on October 7‚ which ultimately resulted in 1‚200 deaths. Many of those killed were women and children.The Telegraph reported that Pappe is an expatriate of Israel who is now a professor of history and also the director of the European Centre for Palestinian Studies at the University of Exeter. The university is the most recent academic institution to come under fire after some of its faculty have come out in support of Palestine amid the conflict in the Middle East.One student at the university has come out against the professor‚ criticizing the university for failing to support its Jewish population by condemning Pappe's comments about the ongoing conflict.In a piece for the Palestine Chronicle‚ dated October 10‚ Pappe wrote a piece‚ describing why he supported the Palestinian cause‚ saying: "It is challenging to maintain one’s moral compass when the society you belong to – leaders and media alike – takes the moral high ground and expects you to share with them the same righteous fury with which they reacted to the events of last Saturday‚ October 7.""It is this moral compass that led me‚ and others in our society‚ to stand by the Palestinian people in every way possible; and that enables us‚ at the same time‚ to admire the courage of the Palestinian fighters who took over a dozen military bases‚ overcoming the strongest army in the Middle East."Pappe did not appear to waver in his utter support for the Palestinian cause in the region‚ writing that there is a way forward‚ which would be a "de-zionised‚ liberated and democratic Palestine from the river to the sea; a Palestine that will welcome back the refugees and build a society that does not discriminate on the basis of culture‚ religion or ethnicity."Though Pappe appeared to suggest Israelis need to be open to diverse cultures‚ he did not appear to hold those in Gaza to the same standard. The professor also failed to address how Hamas has used its own citizens in Gaza as human shields against military opponents. The Telegraph reported that when Pappe was asked to clarify his views about Hamas' horrific acts of rape‚ torture‚ and murder during the October 7 attack‚ he said he condemns these actions "now more than ever before." But he did not make these views apparent in his piece published just three days after the attack. “There is a difference between occupying military bases of an army that maintains the Gaza Strip as a ghetto and the killing of innocent people‚ raping and the other atrocities committed that awful Saturday‚" Pappe said.Pappe is just one among many academics who appear to believe that Israel is "hellbent on accelerating the destruction‚ in fact the elimination of the Palestinian people — or even their very claim to peoplehood."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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