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From Portland to SF, how 'open-air drug markets' turned liberal dreams into residents' NIGHTMARE

Taxpayer-funded rehabilitation programs and weak drug laws have resulted in widespread addiction and homelessness across the cities

Staunchly Democrat cities such as San Francisco and Portland are facing the brunt of taxpayer-funded open-air drug markets as liberal policies have resulted in brazen drug abuse and violence. San Francisco will shut down the controversial Linkage Center by the end of the year after its failure to help the city's large population of homeless people and drug addicts despite burning through $19 million of taxpayer's money.

The embattled city recently recalled its woke DA Chesa Boudin amid a spike in crimes that caused a monumental decline in the quality of life in the city. In nearby Portland, police officers are seen driving by homeless addicts purchasing and using drugs in broad daylight, especially since drug offenses are mostly misdemeanors in the city. It's worth noting that Oregon is ranked second-highest among US states for substance abuse, with nearly one in five adults battling addiction.  

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As mentioned, San Francisco spent $19 million in running costs for a 'Linkage' site that was intended to treat addicts and reduce overdoses in the city. However, between January and April, just 18 of the 23,367 drug users who visited the site were referred for treatment. Meanwhile, the rate of fatal overdoses barely declined. San Francisco Mayor London Breed decided to shut down the center after visiting addicts were rarely linked to any meaningful form of help.

Gary McCoy, a former congressional aide to Nancy Pelosi whose non-profit HealthRIGHT 360 ran the site, blasted the mayor's decision saying it would increase overdose deaths in the city. It's worth noting McCoy was previously accused of misleading city officials about what went on at the facility. San Francisco public health bosses alleged McCoy made up numbers to keep taxpayer cash flowing into the program.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Gina McDonald, a co-founder of Mothers Against Drug Deaths (MADD), welcomed the closure of the site, saying contractors profited off its operations. "We were all in favor of this Linkage Center, as we were told it was going to link people to services," she said. "But it turned into this drug den, with people who were trying to get clean and sober besides those openly using. We're thrilled they are shutting it down. It was supposed to be a place where people could get help and treatment. And it basically turned into an opium den," she added.

McDonald called on the San Francisco Department of health to adopt a more robust policy to help vulnerable people in society. "The department of health has taken on this radical harm reduction model," she explained. "They say they are 'meeting people where they are at'. But they're leaving them there," McDonald said. "I think it's the fault of the San Francisco department of public health that has hired these contractors who make a lot of money when people stay sick. I believe that if you're laying on the street shooting up, smoking fentanyl, and stealing - you can't live there on the street."

McDonald, whose daughter became addicted to fentanyl, also highlighted the menace of drug dealers around the area due to weak laws. "The police do arrest dealers when they can," she said. "The street-level dealer keeps on his person the amount that is only a misdemeanor. The homeless person sitting nearby has the rest of the stash. And the police do not arrest the homeless, because people in San Francisco people won't support that - they see it as harming them." She added, "My daughter's dealer was arrested three times and released, for selling fentanyl. Then they'd send him off to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I had to go and pay him off for her safety."

At the same time, the ultra-liberal city of Portland in Oregon is battling the ramifications of its own experiment with drug legislation. Police say the streets of the Pacific Northwest city are peppered with homeless addicts brazenly buying and selling drugs, adding that signs of addiction are increasing statewide. There are several reports of crowds shooting up drugs or passing out in broad daylight. 

The societal decay was visible 16 months after the passing of Ballot Measure 110, which decriminalized hard drugs in the Democrat-run state, including possession of personal-use amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, LSD, oxycodone, and other drugs. A person found in possession receives a citation, similar to a traffic ticket, with the maximum $100 fine waived if they simply call a hotline for a health assessment. 

The program was billed as a way to establish and fund addiction recovery centers that would offer people aid instead of jail time. However, drug overdose fatalities hit an all-time high in 2021 with 1,069 deaths recorded, a 41 percent increase from 2020. Meanwhile, out of 1,885 people who received tickets for personal possession in the first year, only 91 called the Lines For Life hotline.

Those behind the scheme have claimed they underestimated the effort required to distribute the $300 million in funds for the program, saying only $40 million has been spent thus far. "So clearly, if we were to do it over again, I would have asked for much more staff much quicker in the process," said Steve Allen, Oregon's behavioral health director. "We were just under-resourced to be able to support this effort, underestimated the work that was involved in supporting something that looked like this and partly we didn't fully understand it until we were in the middle of it." The aforementioned ballot measure reportedly funneled millions of dollars in tax revenue from the state's legal marijuana industry to treatment, Fox News reported.