As of Jan. 31, 2023, possession of small amounts of various dangerous drugs became exempt from prosecution in British Columbia due to the efforts of its Leftist Governor, David Eby. While insisting that “decriminalization” was not “legalization,” he was nevertheless recently [April, 2024] forced to ban the use of opioids, etc. in public spaces due to the outrage of citizens who felt it both put their safety at risk while seemingly normalizing behavior they found degenerate. A “compassionate” liberal clearly uncomfortable with this decision, he proudly insisted, as reported by The Globe and Mail on Apr. 27, that “people will still be able to use a handful of illicit substances inside their own homes” and “in their tents if living in sanctioned parks.”
Under the governance of Democrat Kate Brown, the state of Oregon also decriminalized the possession of small amounts of various drugs in Feb. of 2021. Yet just recently Governor Tina Kotek, also a Democrat, declared a state of emergency in downtown Portland due to the brazen public abuse of fentanyl and other opioids. In March of this year, a bill overwhelmingly supported by both parties in the state legislature, cancelled the earlier piece of permissive legislation, making drug possession a misdemeanor leading either to a prison sentence of up to 6 months or voluntary enrollment in a rehabilitation program.
Most “conservatives” have of course celebrated these validations of their belief that self-destructive behavior inherently threatening to the welfare of others must be subject to the Rule of Law. Yet a recent article in my local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, suggests the reactions of B.C. and Oregon to the drug-related problems within their domains are oppressive and counter productive. Written by academic Andrew Hathaway, a Prof. of Sociology at the U. of Guelph, the article is entitled: “Decriminalization failures show half measures are not enough.” His perspective is a perfect example of the Left’s banishment of values such as self-discipline and moral integrity from the political narrative out of deference to the simplistic, neo-Marxist notion that human failure is always the result of poverty, discrimination, and other forms of “oppression.” At no point in his article does Hathaway suggest those addicted to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are in any way responsible for their plight. They are victims, pure and simple. Indeed his article is accompanied by a photograph of a woman bearing a sign stating: “Every Overdose Death is a Policy Failure.” Such a perspective implies that governments are ultimately responsible for the behavior of their citizens and in fact entitles them to intervene in the private sector in a way that has become all too common these days. The Behaviorist theory informing this assumption reduces human beings to the status of animals who must be controlled from above. Such is the arrogance implicit in the “progressive” mindset. Such is the basis of the Left’s disdain for Populism, its belief that if the majority rules against its sacred agenda, it is because most of the species is just too stupid to see the truth. That those of this mindset accuse others of undermining our democracy is truly absurd.
Between 2019 and 2022, opioid related deaths tripled in Oregon. Here in Canada, more than 40,000 people perished of the same addiction from 2016 to 2023. No doubt Covid had something to do with these statistics. But what of Hathaway’s claim that “decriminalization” simply did not go far enough, that the only way to curtail this pandemic of drug abuse and other forms of criminality [car jackings, home invasions, petty thievery, etc.] is to eradicate the socio/economic disparities clearly responsible for it?
While I hardly feel qualified to make definitive statements about the nature of Human Consciousness, a myriad of great thinkers as well as the evidence of all of history suggest we are both blessed with a capacity for Free Will and the Intellectual/Moral ability to exercise it with Integrity rather than in the service of our self-indulgent urges. If socio-economic inequality is the deterministic factor claimed by the Left, how is it that millions of Black Americans have managed to transcend the poverty into which they were born and now live lives rich in achievement and relative material prosperity? If drug abuse is the result of the sense of hopelessness and alienation cited by Professor Hathaway, how is it that so many wealthy, “privileged” celebrities have died before their time due to their addictions? Is it possible Life is infinitely more complicated than Leftist Ideology would have us believe? Kevin Falcon, leader of the opposition in B.C., felt the province’s 2023 relaxation of the restrictions imposed on drug possession had had the effect of “normalizing” drug abuse. Is it not bizarre that Governor David Eby was actually proud of the fact that even after those restrictions had been re-invoked, drug users could still indulge their vice in the privacy of their own homes? Indeed was not his assertion that he had never intended to legalize drug abuse, a hypocritical attempt to deny the very real sense of entitlement his earlier legislation had induced among the addicted? Another example of the absurdity of Leftist “compassion,” of course, is the fact that fentanyl related deaths have soared in North America due to Joe Biden’s border policy which has allowed hundreds of drug dealers to slip into the States since he came into office!
In his article, Prof. Hathaway expresses his loathing for the phrase “bleeding heart liberal,” used by “conservatives” to demean those of his mindset. But it is self-evident that a narrative which tells drug addicts that they are the victims of social injustice, quite literally encourages them in their addiction. Even more ironic, however, is the fact that the Left’s “compassion” for the “oppressed” often results in policies that are disastrous for decent, law-abiding people and indeed society in general.
On May 30, a 16 year old Massachusetts girl walking home from school was kidnapped and murdered by her stepfather who then proceeded to take his own life. In Sept. of 2021, Christina, the girl in question, had alerted police to the fact that she had been repeatedly raped as a 12 and 13 year old by her step dad. Arrested immediately but released on bail for a rather paltry sum, Juliano Santana was outfitted with an ankle monitor and ordered to keep away from any girl under the age of 18. Christina’s mother, however, was terrified of what he might do to both she and her daughter. His trial, which had been delayed repeatedly, was to have begun on July 29 of this year. Obviously he was not willing to face the consequences of his actions. And so Christina is dead. My sadness over the death of this innocent young girl is boundless; my disgust for her degenerate stepfather and the district court which saw fit to release him, equally so. As did many in the community where this occurred, I am moved to ask why in the hell an obviously conscienceless piece of human excrement had been released in the first place. But of course I am a typically judgmental “conservative” while our “progressive” courts these days are not really into making moral judgements. The results of this civilizational decline are too numerous to mention, the canonization of career criminal George Floyd perhaps being the most conspicuous example of the moral degeneracy promoted by the “compassionate” political Left.