The council members and Mayor who once let anarchy take over the City of Roses for nearly 200 days are now virtue signaling and pretending to care about Portland by enacting a ban on public drug use that is not even enforceable unless the State gives its okay.

What was once known as the epicenter of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement, Portland is now pretending it wants to enforce crime.

The City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to enact a ban on the use of hard drugs on public property. However, the new measure won’t be enforced unless there is a change to current state law, which prevents a city from regulating public drug use.

Ted Wheeler is the same progressive mayor who defunded the police by at least $16 million and marched at an Antifa riot in 2020. The total damages to federal buildings in Portland during demonstrations that summer exceeded $2 million. The Mayor cheered on the riots and Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt refused to prosecute hundreds of people who took over for several months.

But progressives always eat their own as you can never be woke enough.

Wheeler let thugs drive him out of his own condo after rioters tried to burn it down on his birthday.

Voters begrudgingly reelected Wheeler over his far-left challenger Sarah Iannarone, who declared “I am Antifa” during her campaign.

The City Council has since added back at least $5.2 million to the police department of the $15 million it cut.

“The bottom line is this: Week by week the situation is getting worse,” Wheeler stated. “We have to focus with urgency to save lives and livelihoods.”

According to the resolution, Oregon saw a 74% surge in fentanyl-related deaths from 2019 to 2020; and continues to experience an escalating trend of overdose deaths, with the number of deaths doubling in number between 2019 and 2022 and it is not expected to slow down anytime soon.

“The last time I saw someone consuming what I believe to be fentanyl publicly on our streets was less than five minutes ago, three blocks from city hall,” Wheeler said. “This is a significant issue.”

Nearly 60% of residents voted to legalize open-air drug use throughout the state in 2020 and now they want to restore order. What did they expect?

Well, I hate to break it to Portland progressives, but you have replaced ‘ordered liberty’ with mayhem by your own demise.