Three years after Oregon voters elected to decriminalize drugs, a new study has concluded that the first-in-the-nation law has not led to increased drug use or drug overdoses. The conclusion counters an increasingly common narrative that Oregon’s drug problem is unique in the country — and that decriminalization is to blame.
  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    38·
    9 months ago

    Nothing in the article addresses stats on overdoses in general just overdose deaths.

    We need to see year by year numbers on ODs, not just deaths.

    There’s this great book called “How to Lie With Statistics” and one of the examples they cite is “ZOMG! Murders are up 14% in the past 5 years!” But the piece they leave out is population growth.

    If murders are up 14% but the population grew 20%, then the rate of murders is down, not up.

    This is why I say, saying the number of overdose deaths, on it’s own, is not a meaningful statistic.

    Are people dying at the same rate as before 110 or have we just gotten better at treating what would have previously been fatal ODs?

    There’s no way to know that without the other half of the equation.

    https://www.kptv.com/2023/09/28/portland-firefighters-responding-high-amounts-od-calls/

    PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Portland Fire & Rescue Station 1 in downtown Portland is one of the busiest in the city.

    “We expect to be somewhere around or north of 12,000 calls this calendar year,” Firefighter Ryan Lougeay said. “This will potentially be the highest number of calls in the history of this station.”

    and also:

    ““Right now we repeat drug overdoses every day,” said Lougeay. “Down here we can see 10 to 30 fentanyl-related overdoses in a 24 hour period.””

    • Encode1307@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      8·
      9 months ago

      The article clearly says that there’s no good way to track overdoses. That data isn’t captured anywhere.

      Thank God we have you to hold the NYU School Of Medicine accountable and tell them which statistics are meaningful.