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Woke cities and states reverse course and crack down on illegal drugs. Here's why
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Leaders in many cities have recently concluded that it was a bad idea to decriminalize hard drugs.
Unless you get your news from NPR, you already knew that allowing people to buy fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin without consequences would end in pain and chaos for both drug users and their communities.
Woke cities and states throughout the country are now scrambling to reinstall policies to restore law and order by deterring drug use.
Scenes of drug use and homelessness in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia on June 29, 2023. (Fox News Digital )
State lawmakers in Oregon, for example, recently passed a new law that put back in place criminal punishments for the possession of hard drugs. Lawmakers found this necessary a mere three years after voters passed Measure 110, a ballot initiative that limited criminal punishments for possessing hard drugs to only small fines – no jail time.
OREGON GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL RECRIMINALIZING HARD DRUGS, COMPLETING LIBERAL EXPERIMENT’S U-TURN
At the time, activists sold voters a bill of goods claiming that Measure 110 would help those with addiction. Activists seized upon the anti-cop riots in 2020 to argue that decriminalizing drugs would also give cops fewer reasons to “harass” drug users. Major activists lined up to fund the effort.
This foolishness sounded too good to people who have common sense, and it was.
Overdose deaths in Oregon shot up 44% between 2022 and 2023 – the highest increase in the nation. Law enforcement officers reported that rampant drug use also contributed to a 16.6% surge in violent crimes such as homicide, rape, assault and robbery from 2019 to 2022.
Activists claimed Measure 110 would help Black residents in particular. Instead, overdose rates among Black Oregonians doubled between 2020 and 2022. Today, one in 10 deaths among Black Oregonians results from a drug overdose.
Measure 110 failed those it purported to help in a deadly way.
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Oregon is not an outlier. San Francisco is walking back bone-deep, down-to-the-marrow stupid drug policies, too.
For years, local leaders allowed the City by the Bay to descend into chaos by declining to arrest or prosecute individuals who used illegal drugs in public. Open-air drug use became commonplace.
Many families left the city to avoid trudging through dirty needles and piles of human feces on their way to work. One deli owner found his “first dead body” while checking on the addicts who camped near his shop.
Californians seem willing to put up with a lot before reconsidering dumb dogma, but even San Francisco has its limits. Mayor London Breed recently announced that “change is coming,” including more funding for law enforcement to arrest those using drugs in public.
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These drug policy reversals are becoming the rule, not the exception. Other cities and states throughout the country – including Washington, D.C., Washington state and Boston – have taken steps to enforce drug laws after years of lax policies brought their residents nothing but misery.
Addiction is horrible. But policymakers cannot allow their empathy for Americans with addiction to blind them to the dangerous reality of drugs like fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.
Drug overdoses killed an estimated 112,000 Americans in 2023 – more than twice as many deaths as car crashes. Yet no sane lawmaker would legalize reckless driving. Heartbreaking stories in Oregon and San Francisco prove that deterrence must be part of the policymaking equation.
As cities and states work to replace failed, dumb crime policies with laws that deter drug use and promote safe communities, Congress must step up, too. That’s why I introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act.
Fentanyl is a particularly deadly narcotic that Louisiana law enforcement has tied to 65% of our overdose deaths. My bill would hold drug dealers accountable by decreasing the amount of fentanyl a dealer has to possess before he faces a mandatory minimum sentence.
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Today, drug traffickers can carry enough fentanyl to kill every person in Shreveport, Louisiana, and still not face even a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. Dealers caught with smaller amounts of less lethal drugs – such as methamphetamine or crack cocaine – face much longer sentences than those caught pushing fentanyl.
Lowering fentanyl possession limits would make sure fentanyl traffickers face punishments that reflect the deadliness of the poison they are peddling.
I don’t understand why some people seem wedded to the dumb-on-crime sentiments that San Francisco and Oregon have abandoned. The Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act wouldn’t affect people suffering from addiction. It would only punish dealers for the hell they’re unleashing on too many innocent families. Still, a few of my colleagues have blocked every effort I’ve made to get this bill signed into law.
Overdose deaths don’t make cities more livable. Open-air drug use doesn’t make communities safer or cleaner. Fair, clear penalties help stop people from hurting themselves and their neighbors.
I hope more woke cities and states admit this and correct their dangerous policies before more Americans fall victim to drugs and stupidity.
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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A student at a Tacoma high school was booked on five counts of first-degree assault after four students and an adult security guard were wounded in a stabbing at the school Thursday, police said.
The Tacoma Fire Department took five people to hospitals from Foss High School, with four of the patients in critical condition and one with minor injuries, said Chelsea Shepherd, a spokesperson for the department.
A sixth person was in police custody and taken to a hospital with minor injuries, she said. All were in stable condition as of late afternoon.
All of those wounded were either stabbed or cut, said Shelbie Boyd, a spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department. The suspect was among those cut in the altercation.
The school went into lockdown at 1:38 p.m. after the violence began and students were safely dismissed at 2:45 p.m., Tacoma Public Schools said in a statement.
“The school is secure, and we are currently investigating,” Boyd said, adding that a reunification area had been set up at the school for parents to pick up their students
School and after-school activities for Friday were canceled. The school will reopen Monday with counselors on site to support students and staff.
“We are grateful for the quick, calm action of our staff and our first responders,” the district said.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Wyoming
Rising fuel costs are squeezing a Wyoming landscaping business — and customers could feel it soon
WYOMING, Mich. — Tryston Crain has been mowing lawns since he was a kid. He started with a couple of houses in his neighborhood, before turning it into a full fledged business.
Now, rising fuel prices are threatening to squeeze his small landscaping business — and potentially his customer’s wallets, too.
WXMI
Crain started Crain Lawn and Landscape in high school, at the age of 16. Today, he serves more than 60 clients every week in the Wyoming area.
“I’m an owner operator with a couple guys that work with me on bigger projects, but primarily just myself,” Crain said.
With dozens of clients to serve, Crain and his crew make frequent trips to the gas pump — filling up trucks two to three times a week, on top of fueling their four mowers.
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I asked Crain what kind of impact rising fuel prices have had on his business.
“When you jump up $1 a gallon, that’s 30 gallons, three times a week. That’s $100 a week just for the truck, $400 a month, and you got the mowers on top of that. So, at this rate it’s almost $1,000 extra a month,” Crain said.
WATCH: Rising fuel costs are squeezing a Wyoming landscaping business — and customers could feel it soon
Rising fuel costs are squeezing a Wyoming landscaping business — and customers could feel it soon
That added cost is forcing Crain to pull money away from growing his business just to keep up with daily operations.
“When we go into budget, with what we want to spend on, you know, X, Y and Z, and we have to take out money that we would usually put into reinvesting, growing the business back into just our daily operations. It hurts us,” Crain said.
WXMI
Crain said he does not want to pass those costs on to his customers — but may have no choice if prices stay high.
“When they’re struggling with all their rising prices, you know, groceries on top of everything else, rent, gas, everything’s going up. So it’s just not something that I want to put on to them. But if it gets to a point where it keeps going up or stays this high for a while, it’s something that you might have to think about,” Crain said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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California childcare providers struggle to stay alive
Hundreds of Bay Area child care providers closed their doors in 2020, as many parents worked from home and watched their children on their own. According to the Century Foundation, more than 70,000 childcare programs nationwide are projected to close. This is partly due to the expiration of the federal COVID-19 pandemic support program that kept many centers open.
SAN FRANCISCO – More San Francisco families will soon have access to free or discounted childcare thanks to an expansion of a city program announced Thursday by Mayor Daniel Lurie.
Who’s eligible for free or discounted childcare in San Francisco?
Dig deeper:
Under the mayor’s expansion of the city’s Family Opportunity Agenda, nearly 750 more children will have access to free or discounted care. To be eligible for free childcare, families must earn less than 150% of the city’s annual median income, $230,000. Families who earn under 200% of the median income – $310,000 – will receive a 50% subsidy for childcare.
The program expansion will offer more than 700 childcare spots, with a focus on infants and toddlers in the Sunset, Parkside, Richmond, Mission, Bayview, Portola, Mission Bay, Excelsior, Glen Park, and SoMa neighborhoods, the mayor’s office said.
“The new slots will expand the city’s early childhood system for infants and toddlers by more than 8%—broadening access to affordable, high-quality childcare for working families,” the city said, in part, in a statement Thursday.
What is San Francisco’s Family Opportunity Agenda?
Big picture view:
The mayor’s Family Opportunity Agenda was launched in January to make housing, childcare, education and more necessary resources affordable for San Francisco residents.
“When families have access to quality, affordable childcare, they can stay and build a life in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “For children, it supports their academic and emotional growth long before kindergarten. And for our entire city, it strengthens our future—helping families stay and keeping our communities strong.”
For more information on the city’s childcare program, click here.
How much does childcare cost?
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, full-time childcare for pre-school-age children can cost anywhere between $9,000 and $24,000 per year. For children under the age of two, the cost rises from $11,000 to $29,000, research shows.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2024 shows California has the third-highest costs for childcare across the U.S., at an average $16,945 per year.
The Source: Office of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie
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