{"id":18672,"date":"2025-02-01T18:28:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T17:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18672"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:07:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:07:36","slug":"opinion-piece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/02\/opinion-piece\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion piece"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\n<h1 class=\"entry-title \"><span class=\"posted-on\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2025-01-27T05:30:00-08:00\"> Guest Commentary written by<\/time><\/span><span class=\"byline\" style=\"font-size: 16px;\">\u00a0Vern Pierson &#8211; <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">January 27, 2025<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Vern Pierson is the district attorney of El Dorado County and was a co-sponsor of Proposition 36. He is a past president of the California District Attorneys Association.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/02\/opinion-piece\/banner-fentanyl\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18673\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18673\" src=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Banner-fentanyl.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1019\" height=\"651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Banner-fentanyl.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Banner-fentanyl-640x409.jpg 640w, https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Banner-fentanyl-768x491.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1019px) 100vw, 1019px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail\"><figcaption>A sign warning against selling fentanyl in Placer County hangs over Taylor Road in Loomis on July 24, 2023.<br \/>\nPhoto by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<\/p>\n<p><strong>California\u2019s drug crisis has only escalated, with so-called \u201ccompassionate solutions\u201d like harm reduction and past policies that decriminalized hard drugs making things worse. <\/strong>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"main-content\">\n<article id=\"post-454250\" class=\"post-454250 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-commentary category-justice tag-commentary tag-criminal-justice tag-election-2024 tag-homelessness tag-opioid-crisis entry\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Many drug addicts in the state have essentially faced two stark choices: homelessness or incarceration. This false dichotomy has normalized substance abuse, endangered public safety and failed to address the root causes of both homelessness and addiction.<\/p>\n<p>In response,\u00a0California voters last fall overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, a third option that prioritizes rehabilitation over incarceration and offers a clear path to recovery, helping break the cycle of addiction and homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>Programs like\u00a0syringe exchanges, for example, have fallen short in addressing addiction itself. While well-intentioned, these programs have led to unintended consequences, including public spaces littered with used needles, increased health risks and the normalization of drug use. While syringe exchanges help reduce disease transmission, they don\u2019t always guarantee that people enroll in treatment programs, and\u00a0research shows they can even increase mortality rates.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \"><\/aside>\n<p>The scale of this problem is stark. In 2021 alone,\u00a0nearly 11,000 Californians died from drug overdoses, with over two-thirds involving opioids like fentanyl. Each of these lives lost represents a missed opportunity for intervention and recovery.\u00a0Prop. 36\u00a0has given the state a framework to address this crisis by\u00a0requiring treatment and rehabilitation\u00a0for people struggling with addiction. This approach has the potential to reduce recidivism, save lives and help people reclaim their futures.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles cm-inline-recirc-hppb wpnbha show-image image-alignleft ts-3 is-1 is-landscape show-category cm-inline-recirc-hppb has-text-align-left\">\n<div data-posts=\"\" data-current-post-id=\"454250\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Source: https:\/\/calmatters.org\/commentary\/2025\/01\/addiction-homelessness-crisis-proposition-36\/<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest Commentary written by\u00a0Vern Pierson &#8211; January 27, 2025 Vern Pierson is the district attorney of El Dorado County and was a co-sponsor of Proposition 36. He is a past president of the California District Attorneys Association. A sign warning against selling fentanyl in Placer County hangs over Taylor Road in Loomis on July 24, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,12,14,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-legal-sector","category-social-affairs","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}