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Hindustan Times
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
This Is the Pacific Northwest on Drugs
A new study finds that Oregon's and Washington state's experiments with decriminalizing drug possession caused a surge in serious violent and property crime, especially in Portland and Seattle. The paper, a collaboration among five criminologists, is the first to demonstrate that the states' reforms—since undone by their legislatures amid massive public backlash—increased crime relative to the rest of the country. Prior research played down the phenomenon, allowing defenders of decriminalization to pretend the issue wasn't real. The July paper adds to the growing evidence that America's experiments with drug decriminalization have proved disastrous. In particular, the research highlights how decriminalization concentrated crime and disorder in Seattle and Portland, rendering parts of the two already troubled cities almost unlivable. It also counters drug liberalizers' argument that public-safety issues around drugs stem from the substances' criminalization—rather than from the drugs themselves. In 2020, Oregon and Washington took steps to decriminalize drug possession—the former by ballot initiative and the latter by state supreme-court ruling. To estimate the effects of these changes, the paper's authors compare the states with 23 others. They use roughly three years of data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, a crime-data collection system managed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The authors also use modern econometric methods that allow them to discern decriminalization's effects more precisely than prior research did. The results are startling. In both states, the authors find statistically significant increases in total violent crime, murder, robbery, aggravated assault, total property crime, burglary and motor-vehicle theft. Their results are equivalent to a roughly 14% increase in the daily violent-crime rate in both states. Daily property crimes rose by 21% in Washington and 9% in Oregon. Several 'robustness' checks indicate the effects aren't statistical flukes. These results are probably unsurprising to residents, whose objections to the results of decriminalization helped drive repeal. When I visited Portland in 2023, large portions of the city had been taken over by open-air drug markets. People used drugs openly on public sidewalks, including in front of police officers. It makes sense that such concentrated disorder and dysfunction resulted in a surge in crime. Crime wasn't the only thing that increased—overdose deaths did too. Research from the University of Toronto's Noah Spencer, published in the Journal of Health Economics, finds decriminalization significantly increased overdose deaths in Oregon. He also finds a significant increase in deaths in Washington, though he considers these findings more tentative given the much shorter period in which the state decriminalized. Drug decriminalization increased crime, overdose deaths and visible disorder. Perhaps that's why both Portland and Seattle saw population growth slow, or even reverse, following decriminalization. Drug-liberalization advocates have tried to play down the failures of decriminalization. They've blamed the emergent problems on the pandemic, and the Drug Policy Alliance has labeled criticisms as 'an intense disinformation campaign by drug war defenders.' These advocates insist that decriminalization is an evidence-based, science-backed approach, but the science isn't on their side. America has tried drug decriminalization, and the results are in: more crime, more disorder, more death. Next time radicals try to bring it to the ballot box, voters should remember how it went. Mr. Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a senior editor of City Journal.
New York Post
30-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Longer maternity leave linked to one very unhealthy habit
Women have long fought for more paid time off after giving birth, citing bonding with the newborn, better mental health and greater workplace equity as some of the benefits. But a new study — published in the Journal of Health Economics — suggests the longer moms spend on maternity leave, the more likely they are to pick up a pretty big health problem later down the line. 3 A new study questions whether or not lengthier maternity leaves benefit mothers as much as people think by examining one surprising outcome. grooveriderz – Researchers tracked over 8,500 European mothers from 14 European countries between 1960 and 2010 and found that extended baby breaks corresponded to a surplus of cigarette breaks. For every extra month of maternity leave, a mom's odds of smoking later rose by 1.2 percentage points. Plus, total smoking duration increased by 7 months, daily cigarette intake edged up by 0.2 per day, and 'pack-years' — a way to measure a lifetime of smoking — climbed by 0.6. The findings caught the scientists by surprise. 'We actually expected that longer career breaks would lead to mothers smoking less. However, our results clearly show that the likelihood of smoking later in life increases with longer periods of parental leave,' Sonja Spitzer, a demographer at the University of Vienna, said in a press release. 'In principle, maternity and parental leave are important for health, and in the short term, health protection also outweighs other considerations. However, if the leave period is too long, financial burdens, social isolation and professional disadvantages can increase — smoking could be a coping mechanism for this stress.' 3 'Our results clearly show that the likelihood of smoking later in life increases with longer periods of parental leave,' Sonja Spitzer said. Miljan í½ivkoviíâ¡ – In keeping with that line of thought, the spike was especially stark among mothers who did not receive financial support from their partner when the baby was born. 'Financial worries during an already sensitive phase of life such as around the time of birth can increase the pressure even more — this stress seems to have a particularly significant impact on health behavior in the long term,' Spitzer said. 3 'If the leave period is too long, financial burdens, social isolation and professional disadvantages can increase — smoking could be a coping mechanism for this stress,' she said. SHOTPRIME STUDIO – While it might seem counterintuitive, the data clearly indicates that shorter maternity leaves seem to have protective benefits when it comes to the urge to light up. 'We were able to clearly show that longer leave periods increase the likelihood of smoking later in life. We can only speculate about the exact reasons behind this, but they are consistent with what we see in the literature and our data,' she concluded. The findings align with previous research, such as a 2012 study that found more than 40% of women who quit smoking during pregnancy relapse within six months postpartum. And multiple studies have indicated that prolonged periods of not working increase the likelihood of smoking, possibly due to stress, loss of structure and boredom. This new study adds a layer of complexity to the conversation, indicating that while longer maternity leave may have some mental health benefits when it comes to bonding and postpartum depression, is also carries some surprising longterm health risks. It suggests that maternity leave policies should focus not only on duration, but also on quality and support.
