And the Rooster said, "Behold! The Sun!"
- However, Oregon's decline in methamphetamine usage is consistent with a very similar decline in other states in the region (29 percent in California and 20 percent in Washington) and also more generally in the United States (23 percent).
These findings strongly suggest that meth-use reductions are attributable to broader trends and cannot be claimed by the effects of the Oregon law.
The above is a great example of how state law makers fool themselves and the public into thinking that the laws they pass concerning victimless crimes are effective. They are not.
The law which was passed in 2005 made cold medications available only through a doctor's prescription. Not only did surrounding states with no such laws experience similar results, the Oregon law had the unintended consequence of making the cost of obtaining these medication more expensive for everyone.
Among the direct costs of this law are the added time and expense involved in visiting a doctor to obtain a prescription for pseudoephedrine as well as the generally higher systemic cost of the prescription drug itself. These costs are borne not only by individuals, but also by government and private payers that cover prescription medications.
If elected, I will vote against these "feel-good" laws and seeks way to repeal other that have been passed by previous meetings of the legislature.
The entire report can be found here.