Here’s a thought.

Let’s solve teenage drinking by virtually eliminating the repercussions.

Make it basically legal for teens to consume alcohol in public. Encourage keg parties in orchards. Any teen cited for breaking whatever minimal laws still in place can get off the hook by calling a help hotline for alcoholics.

What could possibly go wrong?

Ask the fine people of Portland who are under siege. They just declared a fentanyl emergency in their downtown. It seems like decriminalizing drugs simply made their use more rampant. Worse yet, it amplified the problems that usage creates:  Increased theft, homelessness, increased medical and health issues, and the big one — more deaths.

Back in 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110. It effectively decriminalized meth, heroin, oxycodone, and a whole repertoire of other drugs. In doing so, it was supposed to reduce crime. The theory was it would lead to safer use of drugs and therefore reduce medical and health problems. And it would reduce overdoses.

Guess what? It did the opposite of what the Portland progressives envisioned.

In the first two years, homelessness soared 22.5 percent. An impressive feat given on a per capita basis Portland now has a worse homeless problem than Los Angeles.

Portland with 608,000 residents has 6,297 homeless. That’s 1.3 percent of the population.

Los Angeles with 3,899,000 residents has 46,260 homeless. That’s 1.15 percent of the population.

But who cares if it reduced deaths, right?

Perhaps that might be a reasonable thing to say if that is what actually happened.

In 2019, before Portland became the promised land of druggies, there were 280 opioid overdose deaths in Portland. The number reached 956 in 2022.

And while data is not complete for 2023, based on 628 opioid OD deaths in the first six months, Portland was on track to end the year with 1,256 deaths.

Based on overall Los Angeles County and not city of Los Angeles, OD deaths numbered 3,233 in 2022.

Portland with a population just under a 17th of LA County’s 10.9 million resides had just over a third the number of deaths.

This is not to make you think the homeless or drug problem in California is much better. No drug or homeless situation on the scale they are in the two states is good. But the Portland experience proves it can be worse. Much worse.

All you need to do is remove the last pretense of having any serious consequences for drug use. And let’s be clear. We are not talking about marijuana.

Crime aside from black market related violence, marijuana is not a contributing factor on a measurable scale when it comes to homeless, overdose deaths and health issues.

As for the gateway drug argument, it is a legitimate point in a lead-us-not-into-temptation sort of way instead of being so addictive one is instantly hooked.

It is important that the anti-drug crowd concedes that point. It’s because we as a society — specifically here in California — can ill afford to push away support for keeping the criminal aspect of deadly drugs intact by painting marijuana as guilty by association.

Take down the barriers like Portland did, and it will be akin to digging a hole and filling it with quicksand.

Honest and frank information – not fanned by anti-drug or pro-drug biases – will prevent California cities from accelerating the carnage and deterioration of the quality of life as it has done in Portland.

The working theory in Portland was that decriminalization would allow the court system to steer offenders cited with minimal $100 fines to rehab programs.

The opposite actually happened.

Consider what a study by Oregon Public Broadcasting revealed. Reporters examined 978 circuit-court cases in 2023 that involved the issuance of “drug tickets.” In excess of 60 percent of the defendants failed to show up in court.

It gets even when it comes to offenders exercising an easy option to avoid becoming part of the criminal justice system.

The 2020 law allow drug users to get the minimal $100 ticket waived by simply picking up the phone and calling a hotline for treatment referral.

Keep in mind they basically only have to make the call and sign up for treatment as tracking is done at the point of inquiry and not checking in the follow through of actual treatment.

During 2023, the hotline averaged less than two calls a week from individuals that had received tickets.

The progressive solution has led to a surge of open drug use on streets and in parks. It has jacked up theft rates by addicts needing to pay for their next high. Strung-out drug users trash downtown neighborhood streets.

Without significant fines or the threat of jail time, Measure 110 made the criminal justice system completely ineffective at being able to steer offenders to rehab programs.

It comes as no surprise that the surge in deaths and the significant spread of wanton public disorder has sparked a growing demand that consequences with teeth once again be attached to drug use.

Throwing drug users in prison isn’t the answer nor is society giving drug users carte blanche to convert large swaths of downtowns and nearby neighborhood into the modern day equivalent of open-air opium dens.

Tough love solutions may seem harsh to some. But mistaking laissez-faire as a humane loving solution to change the trajectory of drug users is the very definition of heartless insanity. Plus it spreads the misery by making society collateral damage.

Keep California semi-sane and reject the wholesale decriminalization of drugs. The community you save might just be your own.

This column is the opinion of Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Courier or 209 Multimedia.