Thread by @shellenberger

People say we just need to offer homeless addicts more services, including special places where they can use drugs. But yesterday, one block from San Francisco's new drug use site, I discovered mass, open drug use, drug dealing, & psychotic, skeletal addicts on the brink of death

People say we need to follow the lead of Portugal which, they say, legalized, de-stigmatized, and normalized drug use. But the head of its drug program told me they arrest people who use drugs publicly, coerce treatment, and do not normalize drug use.

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1415345836913922054?s=20&t=bDhALRFHSyl1B7lxZsKdkQ

The most influential drug policy organization in the U.S., including with the Biden Admin., has, for decades, lied about what Portugal does

Here, the Director of Research for @DrugPolicyOrg told me "a police officer will not arrest" someone using drugs in public, which is false

The second most influential drug policy organization in the U.S., the National Harm Reduction Coalition, oversees San Francisco's response to drug overdoses through the DOPE Project

Its executive director told me that, in Portugal, "All drugs have been legalized." That is a lie.

The director of research for Drug Policy Alliance, which has an $11 million/year budget, and $15M in assets, admitted to me that she has never visited Portugal, Netherlands, or any other nation to see their approach to drug addiction, treatment, and open drug scenes.

Given their resources, influence, and willingness to lie, DPA & NHRC may seem unbeatable, but hours after we denounced Biden's plan to fund crack pipes, the White House announced, "No federal funding will be used... to put pipes in safe smoking kits"

apnews.com/article/busine…

Subsidizing & encouraging drug use destroys lives and cities. The city-financed drug sites at and around San Francisco's U.N. Plaza have ruined the farmers market by scaring away customers. "Once this happen, drugs surround the area. Everybody knows where to buy their drugs."

Nobody is coming to save us and so it's up to us. Neither political party has done, or is proposing to do, what's required to save our people, our cities, and our nation. We need a new vision. We need new leaders. And we need a new movement.

/END

californiapeacecoalition.org