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Oregon 'lost a generation of people' due to now-reversed liberal drug law, says GOP leader

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Oregon 'lost a generation of people' due to now-reversed liberal drug law, says GOP leader

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Oregon’s move to recriminalize drugs was the first of many necessary steps, according to State House Republican leader Jeff Helfrich. The new law, which is a reversal of the state’s 2020 decriminalization, went into effect Sunday.

“You saw overdose deaths, you saw drug usage on the street, crime, homelessness all soared after Democrats put this policy in place. And they could have stopped it, but they didn’t,” Helfrich told “Fox & Friends” Tuesday.

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The new legislation, HB 4002, imposes tougher penalties for selling drugs in public and makes drug possession for personal use a misdemeanor offense.

Under the new law, those caught with small amounts of hard drugs such as fentanyl, heroin, and meth will have the ability to choose between a charge of possession or treatment programs that would include being mandated to complete a behavioral health program to avoid fines.

A syringe drop box stands on the street as a Portland Police officer conducts an investigation into drug dealing and issues a citation for drug possession during a patrol in downtown Portland, Oregon on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

DRUG ADDICTS FUEL VIOLENT CRIME IN SPIRALING SAN FRANCISCO, EXPERT SAYS

Addiction and drug-related deaths skyrocketed in the years following Oregon’s 2020 decriminalization, which was passed with 58% of voters’ support. The law has been described as the most liberal drug law ever to take effect in the U.S.

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“Unfortunately, because we decriminalized it for those few years, we’ve lost a generation, I believe, of people because of these drugs. And you don’t get to have those times anymore,” Helfrich said. 

“People can’t even go into public and take their kids to the park because they’re dealing with the death, they’re dealing with drug use, dealing with all those bad things that are happening. And this is just horrible policies.” 

BLUE CITY’S DRUG RECRIMINALIZATION ROLLOUT INCLUDES JAIL FOR SUSPECTS CAUGHT AT NIGHT OR ON WEEKENDS

The new law will make it easier for police to crack down on drug use in public, a problem that has become widespread in some parts of the state.

Offenders who choose treatment programs will have to meet strict eligibility criteria to avoid charges, Portland police chief Bob Day told the Guardian, mandating that those caught in possession have “no other charges, no warrants, no violent behavior, medically stable.”

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Though the new law has been implemented state-wide, Helfrich expressed a need for more action to address the state’s drug crisis. 

“It’s unfortunate that you have these mega-donors around the nation that use Oregon as the petri dish and experiment to try to create this world of utopia, and you can’t do it. We need more Republicans [in] charge to fix this problem.”

Fox News’ Michael Lee and Michael Dorgon contributed to this report.

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Washington

A man went missing in a Washington national park on July 31. He was just found alive.

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A man went missing in a Washington national park on July 31. He was just found alive.



Robert Schock went missing after he was last seen hiking in the North Cascades National Park. A trail crew found him on Aug. 30 in the park’s Chilliwack Basin after they heard him yelling for help.

A trail crew found a missing hiker in the North Cascades National Park in Washington a month after his disappearance, officials said Thursday, and the man’s rescuers say he may not have had another day in him.

Officials reported 39-year-old Robert Schock a missing person days after he was last seen at the park on July 31, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses saw the hiker near the area’s Chilliwack River without any overnight supplies.

On Aug. 30, Schock was found “alive and well” in the park’s Chilliwack Basin, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday. But the trail crew responsible for his rescue and his mother paint a more dire picture of Schock’s state.

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Schock’s mother, Jan Thompson, told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was weak and malnourished.

“He’s in a lot of pain and he isn’t speaking very well, but he’s coherent and seemed in pretty high spirits,” Thompson told the outlet from her home in North Carolina. “I didn’t push him too much.”

Schock’s dog found when he went missing

Concerns surrounding Schock’s disappearance began on Aug. 3 when an abandoned vehicle and his dog were found 8 miles from the hiking trail, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies found the vehicle with the windows rolled down and Schock’s wallet on the dashboard. Several ground and air searches in the remote area were conducted through Aug.16 but no clues were uncovered until his discovery last week.

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Thompson told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was found by a crew with the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, which was working in the field when they heard Schock yelling for help.

The National Park Service did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for further details.

Schock ‘only had another day left in him’

Jeff Kish, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, wrote on Facebook that Schock was “found alive, but not well.”

“It is the belief of those who came to be involved in the rescue that Robert may have only had another day left in him before the outcome of his discovery would have been much more tragic,” Kish wrote.

Kish said that Schock reported that he had been immobile and stuck in one spot for two weeks.

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“His situation was dire,” Kish said. “I won’t provide most of the details that I learned about his condition today, because I think the only appropriate person to decide whether those details should be shared publicly is Robert himself.”



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Wyoming

Guest Column: Why Wyoming Is Losing Healthcare Workers

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Guest Column: Why Wyoming Is Losing Healthcare Workers


As a member of the Labor/Health/Social Services committee in the Wyoming legislature, I experienced first-hand the complaints by the Medical Cartel that they can’t get young people to go into the healthcare field, and that there aren’t enough health care workers.

My first question to those complaining of this to our committee, is “Do you require the so-called COVID vaccine?” and then, “Do you require masking or testing?” 

Today, my daughter called me in tears to report that the Nursing Program in which she is enrolled at Central Wyoming College in Riverton is going to require her to take a COVID test, even though she is not sick, in order to complete the clinical portion of her study at Westward Heights Care Center in Lander, because they are having an “outbreak” (I later learned this is FOUR people).

An “outbreak” of what, I wonder, since the COVID PCR test was never meant to be used as a diagnostic tool, ACCORDING TO ITS INVENTOR.

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All that so-called COVID tests measure is that a person has a coronavirus, of which there are literally millions.

I called Jim Kniola, Nursing Instructor at Central Wyoming College, and he told me that they follow and comply with “the evidence.”

He was very condescending and further told me that Westward Heights Care Center requires it.

Neither my daughter, nor I, want any swab with who-knows-what on it placed near her blood-brain barrier. This shouldn’t require an exemption of any kind.

What happened to those who misuse the cry “my body, my choice!” when, in this case, it actually applies.

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Today my daughter decided to leave the nursing program and instead study Health Science, in the hopes that the WY legislature will do its job and protect medical freedom in the next two years, after which time she can pursue a nursing degree at a 4-year college. 

In 2023, I was the prime sponsor of HB0066 – Prohibiting mask, vaccine and testing discrimination.

Had the bill passed, my daughter and others like her would not be forced to postpone their dream of becoming nurses.

I have serious doubts that my primary opponent is likely to propose or vote to protect medical freedom, having received $1000 from the Wyoming Hospital Association, who is responsible for keeping these kinds of requirements in place and locking Wyoming down during the scamdemic.

Rep. Jeanette Ward

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Ward represents House District 57 in Casper.



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San Francisco, CA

Incumbent San Francisco Mayor London Breed says childhood memories guide her policy

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Incumbent San Francisco Mayor London Breed says childhood memories guide her policy


Stepping inside London Breed’s San Francisco apartment, you instantly feel her connection to generations of family that she says are bonded both by blood and by love.

“I remember this day when I took this picture,” she points at a photo of her kindergarten self. “I remember crying because I didn’t want to wear this shirt. Because I was wearing this shirt almost every day. So, it was like, ‘I want to wear a different shirt.’ I mean, even at five, I was a piece of work. I didn’t understand we didn’t have it to buy a different shirt it was like you’re going to wear what you have.”

She was raised by her grandmother Comelia, whose impact can be felt in each part of the mayor’s home which she’s rented for several years.

“Photos, if we were lucky enough to take any, you know it was a big deal, because now you have them on your cameras, but I don’t have a lot of pictures from when I was a kid,” she explained. “Because we didn’t have money for that.”

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But to a young London, growing up in poverty and dependent on food stamps in the same city she now leads, she never could have imagined the shoes she’d later step into.

“I know what it feels like for people in positions like this to make decisions that negatively impact my community,” she explained, reflecting on her upbringing. “And I never want to be one of those people.”

To prepare to make decisions she hopes will carry a positive impact, each morning she tries to dedicate a moment just for herself. Making coffee, watering her beloved plants, and hopping on her Peloton bike for a ride with favorite Cody Riggsby while reviewing her notes for the day.

All with a reminder of her grandmother’s strength.

“A bit of that tough love that my grandmother it was like, you cannot live here unless you do your homework, make up your bed and clean up. There were rules, and I believe in rules,” said Breed. “I believe in structure and that allows for everyone to have an opportunity to be a part of a better community, a better society. I hope is that people learn that it’s not just politics. For me, it’s very personal.”

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Her role as mayor has brought some healing to Breed, who recalls her own experience living among conditions she’s worked to improve during her six years in office.

“I know what that’s like, to count pennies, to roll up pennies and to go in with my 50 cents, you know, and try to buy something,” she said. “Being housing insecure and being afraid because of the violence, and being poor and broke and just feeling hurt and angry about everything all the time. It just was most of my life because we had no choice.”

But it’s a time she tries to apply in each decision she makes. 

“It is definitely a blessing to be able to go through that and to use those same experiences as a way to shape policy that could hopefully lead to better results for the people who have similar experiences like I do,” Breed said.

MORE MAYORAL CANDIDATE PROFILES IN THIS SERIES

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