#Decriminalizing #roughsleeping: A new chapter in #compassion and #justice

https://www.optimistdaily.com/2025/06/decriminalizing-rough-sleeping-a-new-chapter-in-compassion-and-justice/

#Illinois poised to become #America’s leader in fully #decriminalizing #sexwork

https://heartlandprogressive.blogspot.com/2025/01/illinois-poised-to-become-americas.html

@energisch_ @mina @Nickiquote so what?

• We don't ban #cars because there are #HitAndRun accidents.

• We don't ban #alcohol despite #DUI causing thousands of deaths if not millions each year.

• We don't ban #Corporations despite them destroying the envoirment.

#MoneyLaundering is a #ModiOperandi and there are and always will be means to do so.

• #Criminalization makes it harder to #enforce #AML and to actually #investigate issues.

It's more effective to #deny criminals' any #profit to launder in the first place.

• That's why #tobacco and #alcohol are legal and why an increasing number of juristictions are #decriminalizing #drugs like #Cannabis, since #HomeGrowing and #Dispensaries are #safer and cheaper than what any #OrganizedCrime could offer on the market, as even the highest #TaxRates are lower than what Organized Crime would demand...

When it comes to #reporting on #NorthAmerica’s #OverdoseCrisis — the worst in our history — #misleading articles can increase #stigma against people who use #drugs, skew the public’s understanding of the issue, inspire #BadFaith policy and make it more difficult for other #journalists to gain the trust and respect of #MarginalizedCommunities.

Which brings me to a splashy, new piece of drug #journalism from U.K.-based newspaper the Telegraph, falsely claiming that #decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs “made #Vancouver the #fentanyl capital of the world.”

The Telegraph’s story, like others before it, makes a number of other #misleading claims, including stating that #SafeSupply programs, which provide pharmaceutical alternatives to street drugs, are making the situation worse because that supply is being sold to street users, including young people. Some safe supply is being diverted, but there is no evidence that it’s led to more deaths or teens forming new addictions.

Reporting like this misses important context about the #DrugCrisis, allowing #politicians to drum up fear about #HarmReduction rather than confront how decades of #prohibition have impacted the current #FentanylCrisis. After the 2010s crackdown on prescription pain pills, many people dependent on #opioids turned to heroin instead. Eventually, #DrugTraffickers began cutting heroin with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger, that is also cheaper and simpler to make and smuggle.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/fearmongering-about-drug-dens-is-making-canadas-crisis-worse/article_3cb43484-444e-11ef-90b0-a7fbb265a168.html

#CDNpoli #BCpoli #BreakTheStigma #AddictionEducation #Fearmongering #StopStigmatizingAddiction #Health #Medical #HealthPolicies #MediaManipulation #BreakStatusQuo #FundTreatmentServices #FundHealthCare #FundMedicalServices #CommunityHealth

Norwegian magazine #Morgenbladet interviewed longtime #AbortionRights champion and ARCC's own Executive Director, Joyce Arthur, as Norway looks to amend the gestational age limit for abortion.

Arthur shares her insights on the importance and benefits of #decriminalizing #abortion, as done in #Canada.

🔗 Read the (paywalled) article here https://www.morgenbladet.no/aktuelt/politikk/2024/01/16/umulig-a-gi-fosteret-rettigheter-for-kvinner-velger-a-fode-det/

Article and screenshot courtesy of Ingrid Grønli Åm, journalist with Morgenbladet, and photos by Jackie Dives.

#Decriminalizing #homosexuality, #gender #transition #treatments slow #Texas #House to a crawl
The chamber was free of #rancor, even #cheerful as members plodded toward a key #bill-passing deadline.

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #Texas #RepublicanParty #Hate #Bigotry #Violence #Genocide #Discrimination #Homophobia #Transphobia #ThePartyOfHate

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2023/05/11/decriminalizing-homosexuality-treatments-reversing-sex-changes-slow-texas-house-to-crawl/