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Medicine

San Francisco Decriminalizes Psychedelics (doubleblindmag.com) 168

San Francisco lawmakers have unanimously approved a measure calling for the decriminalization of psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca. DoubleBlind Mag reports: The Board of Supervisors approved the measure, sponsored by Supervisors Dean Preston (D) and Hillary Ronen (D), on Wednesday. While it doesn't immediately enact changes to criminal justice policy in San Francisco, it urges police to deprioritize psychedelics as "amongst the lowest priority" for enforcement and requests that "City resources not be used for any investigation, detention, arrest, or prosecution arising out of alleged violations of state and federal law regarding the use of Entheogenic Plants listed on the Federally Controlled Substances Schedule 1 list."

Decriminalize Nature San Francisco helped advance the resolution, which also implores city officials to "instruct" its state and federal lobbyists to push for psychedelics decriminalization in California and federally. The whereas section of the measure talks about emerging research that shows entheogenic substances have therapeutic potential to treat a wide range of mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance misuse disorder. It further notes that the "state legislature has already started the conversation around the decriminalization of personal possession of small amounts of seven psychedelic substances," in the form of a bill from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) that passed the Senate and several Assembly committees before being significantly scaled back in a final panel and ultimately pulled by the sponsor.

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San Francisco Decriminalizes Psychedelics

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  • by Thargok ( 661682 ) on Thursday September 08, 2022 @10:08PM (#62865523)

    You can't stop people from blatantly robbing stores, breaking in cars, and defecating on the street. What made you think that psychedelics were such a concern that the needed to be intervened in? They may as well have patted themselves on the back and legalized everything, because it's happening anyways.

    • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Thursday September 08, 2022 @11:22PM (#62865637)

      San Francisco gets a lot of conservative hate for a place so close to being an anarcho-capitalist experiment. SF [neighborhoodscout.com] has about the same crime rate (marginally safer) as Nashville [neighborhoodscout.com]. The main difference is that SF doesn't spend a lot of money keeping impoverished weirdos out of sight or out of town. It is a matter of principles and resource allocation.

      If Wallgreens wants to have a store on every block in the Tenderloin, then they will have to pay security guards enough to intervene and stop thefts in progress (stop relying on public resources—police—to run your business). If you don't want shit on the sidewalk, it is probably cheaper to hire sidewalk sweepers than arrest and jail every addict who needs to shit.

      These are public policy choices, and hopefully the residents of different cities are happy with the trade-offs of their choice. But don't pretend that Nashville, or Dallas, or your local sinkhole of adequacy are doing things better, because by most objective measures (income, amenities, opportunities, climate, legal medical procedures) they are worse. Plus, you can't legally trip balls there.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by inhuman_4 ( 1294516 )

        San Francisco gets a lot of conservative hate for a place so close to being an anarcho-capitalist experiment.

        San Francisco gets a lot of conservative hate because it's the proving ground for many left wing policies. It's a high tax city, in a high tax state, with possibly the most left wing population in the country. And what do they have so show for all those taxes and left wing government programs? Not much.

        That San Francisco has the same violent crime rates as Orlando Florida and Mobile Alabama in itself isn't noteworthy. What makes it noteworthy is that the left keeps pushing for similar policies across the co

        • You've misunderstood the subsidy I'm objecting to. I am not an anarcho-capitalist, and am in favor of public spending for police, prosecutors, defenders, judges, and jail . But the videos of people stealing from Walgreens often suggest that the police should patrol in sufficient numbers to deter shoplifters; it doesn't make sense use $125,000 of police power to protect (very generously) $100,000 of Walgreens merchandise.

          • by jlar ( 584848 )

            You've misunderstood the subsidy I'm objecting to. I am not an anarcho-capitalist, and am in favor of public spending for police, prosecutors, defenders, judges, and jail . But the videos of people stealing from Walgreens often suggest that the police should patrol in sufficient numbers to deter shoplifters; it doesn't make sense use $125,000 of police power to protect (very generously) $100,000 of Walgreens merchandise.

            Your calculation is too simplistic. The societal costs of crime are much higher than the value of the stolen goods. A Walgreen adds value (better health, higher property prices) to the surrounding society. This value is lost if it is forced to shut down due to theft.

            • If Walgreens shuts down, it will be because it's a marginal store in a marginal neighborhood, making marginal profits.

              Crime is only an excuse. If the store was solvent, they'd just hire security. Shutting down because of crime just means they ran the numbers and they are not even profitable enough to hire a couple security guards.

              If you can't afford to run your store properly, it should go out of business and make way for someone with a better business model.

              • That will just lead back to people with money living in fortified gated communities and dis-investing in the surrounding sea of chaos. Crime destroys far more value than it redistributes.
              • If a public area has a high incudence of crime -- or feces -- customers won't show up at the store regardless of security.

                • Right. Which is why you need to hire security and maintenance personnel to keep your block clean and safe.

                  • So, again, they should be paying twice for these services? Once via taxes meant to fund police, street sweeps, public health officials, and once to do it themselves because the high taxes still don't secure the basic services that the city is supposed to be providing?

                    Perhaps Walgreens should stop paying city taxes since their taxes are not being used to provide the services that are promised by government, and instead use that money to find the services that the city isn't providing anymore.

                    • If a burglar breaks into your house with a gun, you have only yourself and your security system to defend yourself. Cops can't be everywhere. It doesn't mean you're paying twice. It means you have layered security. If your property isn't important, then one layer is probably fine for many people. Businesses need to decide whether they want that extra layer.

          • by gizmo2199 ( 458329 ) on Friday September 09, 2022 @09:02AM (#62866515) Homepage

            > But the videos of people stealing from Walgreens often suggest that the police should patrol in sufficient numbers to deter shoplifters; it doesn't make sense use $125,000 of police power to protect (very generously) $100,000 of Walgreens merchandise.

            But here's the thing: being permissive of "low-level" crimes like shoplifting leads to the increase in "higher-level" crimes like assault, drug-dealing, etc. This is pretty much an established fact as far as criminal justice is concerned.

            Petty shoplifting doesn't happen in a vacuum. It feeds into a systemic establishment of law-breaking. The shoplifter is selling stolen property, using the proceeds for things like drugs, or even things like acquiring weapons so he can steel higher-value items. Now the police are dealing with home invasions and turf wars because they wanted to go easy on shoplifters. How is that a good use of public resources?

            • I'm not sure that the "broken windows" theory of crime prevention is really valid. It seems like the 1990s acted as if it was, and yet crime just kept going up. But I would welcome new info comparing jurisdictions that cracked down on low-level crimes with those that don't. If we are comparing San Francisco and Orlando, I would probably prefer SF (never having visited Orlando).
          • One cop on the corner deters crime on the entire block, not for just one store. And if the cops aren't there deterring crime, then it won't be long before the stores aren't either. You seem to want them to pay for police to protect nothing and to pay for private security to protect their business. This does not make much sense.

            Nor, as it happens, does this term, "anarcho-capitalism", you keep tossing around. It is an oxymoron. You cannot have those two things at once. Realistically, you cannot have

            • I'm not sure that the term is oxymornic, but there is certainly a tension there. I was trying to frame a hands-off government in terms that would appeal to RW libertarians. I think there is a large contingent of Ron Paul supporters who think 5 year olds should be able to drive delivery trucks full of heroin, yet will condemn SF as a lawless hellhole because the police won't arrest people for nudity and public shitting.
      • by ruddk ( 5153113 )

        I have never seen anywhere in the world that has so much police as I have in USA. It is surprising to me that the store needs to hire security guards and that it is on the stores to ensure safety with their own "police" force.

        • Any major U.S. city I've been in, private security is the dominant approach. My apartment building has security guards. The club downstairs has its own security. The speakeasy next to it has its own security. The hostel across the street has its own security.

          Cops are escalatory. They absolutely are not expected to prevent crime. For that, you should own a gun or hire someone that does.

      • Not sure how it is in San Francisco, but crime numbers in Seattle are artificially low because they don’t stop anything and make reporting crime difficult. A man exposes himself to groups of people at a shopping mall parking lot while defecating? No not worth the police’s time, they won’t even take your call because “a shopping mall is private property so only the owner of the mall can call us.” Literally even as a tenant of the shopping mall they won’t respond to calls i
      • I suspect that San Francisco and Nashville base their crime statistics on different standards. As do most big, blue state cities. In Seattle, having heroin in your pocket is not probable cause of a crime. Because who knows? That junkies rig might have jumped in there on its own. So, not a crime.

      • Folk in SF have all but given up reporting crime. That and decriminalisation. A whole lot difference from there being not that much crime.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 )

      If you're going to San Francisco
      Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
      If you're going to San Francisco
      You're gonna meet some gentle people there

      For those who come to San Francisco
      Summertime will be a love-in there
      In the streets of San Francisco
      Gentle people with flowers in their hair

      All across the nation such a strange vibration
      People in motion
      There's a whole generation with a new explanation
      People in motion people in motion

      For those who come to San Francisco
      Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
      If yo

    • by khchung ( 462899 ) on Friday September 09, 2022 @02:32AM (#62865881) Journal

      You can't stop people from blatantly robbing stores, breaking in cars, and defecating on the street. What made you think that psychedelics were such a concern that the needed to be intervened in? They may as well have patted themselves on the back and legalized everything, because it's happening anyways.

      The lawmakers had already done that for themselves. What Americans call "campaign contributions", fully legal, is what people call "bribes" and "corruption" everywhere else.

      For the common criminals, well, it may take longer.

    • Seeing as psychedelics are known effective treatments for depression and addiction, it seems like a no-brainer if you're concerned about people on the street pooping.

      • by Hodr ( 219920 )

        Take that a step further, opiods are known to cause constipation. Make heroin legal to stop street shitting!

    • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      I think its a strategy - maybe if the druggies are tripping enough they'll eat some of the shit.

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      You can't stop people from blatantly robbing stores, breaking in cars, and defecating on the street. What made you think that psychedelics were such a concern that the needed to be intervened in? They may as well have patted themselves on the back and legalized everything, because it's happening anyways.

      But that requires doing something about appalling poverty.

    • You can't stop people from blatantly robbing stores, breaking in cars, and defecating on the street.

      This is like a take from 7 years ago that is completely unaware of the programs San Francisco has taken to solve the problems you mention. Including literally building homes for homeless people, hiring homeless outreach workers (who can be seen on the streets actually helping homeless people), hiring guards where needed, installing public bathrooms at key locations, etc. Some of these things have been mentioned on Slashdot.

      Seriously, you need to update your knowledge before ranting like an angry politician.

    • You should visit SF sometime. You will find that it is nothing like what Faux News tells you to expect.

    • Isn't that what the story is about? They diverted resources to more important matters.

  • Good News! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Thursday September 08, 2022 @10:22PM (#62865563)

    Another stab in the heart of conservative control.

  • Been like that since the invention of cities. I talked to an SF cop about four years ago. The cop said, without hesitation, that everybody is on something. Making it legal will do nothing.

  • Isn't THIS going to make San Fran so much more charming... where once there were feces and syringes, we can look forward to people who think they can fly.

    Society cannot possibly be improved by ever-increasing numbers of people destroying parts of their brains for amusement... and good governments are not established to help people destroy themselves. Toxic governments, on the other hand, often encourage people to distract and/or destroy themselves.

    • Ah, of course, to prevent people from harming themselves, we must lock them up in prisons. It's so obvious!

      What a hateful display of dipshittery. Go lick more boots.

      • Ah, of course, to prevent people from harming themselves, we must lock them up in prisons. It's so obvious!

        Well, that is the Newsom plan. No doubt having this DINO as governor is emboldening the other shitheels.

    • "tiqui", as in, "I like to march with my white buddies while carrying tiqui torches"?
    • "we can look forward to people who think they can fly."

      An old trope, and complete horseshit. The kind of anecdote alluded to in the 60s by the right.

      Besides, to quote somebody who's name I cannot recall, "People on LSD aren't that far gone. If they suspect they might be able to fly, they'll probably start on the ground."

  • Groovy baby! (Score:4, Informative)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday September 09, 2022 @09:14AM (#62866529)
    I bet Tricky Dicky's turning in his grave. He passed those laws to criminalise 60s counter-culture (as well as anti-cannabis laws to criminalise the civil rights movement). He saw the hippies (& African Americans asking for dignity) as the biggest threat to America at the time.

    Enjoy your trip, San Francisco!
  • by sabbede ( 2678435 ) on Friday September 09, 2022 @10:12AM (#62866701)
    Given all the problems facing SF, was it really a wise use of the council's time to tell the police not to enforce a law that they already weren't enforcing (when was the last prosecution)? Was this such a pressing issue that it had to be given precedence over the human waste polluting the bay? Did they look at the research on the use of psylocibin to treat addiction and figured it meant more drugs would mean less drugs?

    I don't think psylocibin should be criminalized either, but the city is falling apart around them and all they can think to do is make show-votes about doing nothing! Are they taking incompetence to the point of pathology, or is systemic collapse their intention?

  • The City of San Francisco has adopted the biohazard symbol as its new seal.

  • They didn't decriminalize anything. They just asked someone else to do so. Furthermore, all crime in SF has been decriminalized anyway, de facto if not de jure.

  • In order to use drugs or firearms, you should have to get a permit.
  • Much of the testing that was cited to make MDMA criminalized--was actually meth.
  • They will decriminalise murder.

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