10 Years of Drug Decriminalization in Portugal

CATO ^ | 7/5/11 | Tim Lynch

[Nachum]

Ten years ago this month, Portugal rejected the conventional approach to drug policy–more laws, stiffer prison sentences, more police–and went the other way by decriminalizing all drugs, even cocaine and heroin. The drug warriors predicted a disaster. They said drug use would spike and there would be a public health crisis. That did not happen. As Glenn Greenwald showed in a 2009 Cato report, Portugal is doing better than before and in many respects is doing better than other countries in the European Union

[dennisw]

You want Idiocracy then legalize drugs. These druggies will be voting Democrat to get Gov’t freebies

We have too many idiots and too many irresponsible people in America. You legalize all drugs including methedreine and heroin and cocaine and crack here and you will get an explosion in child abuse and people sucking off the social welfare systems. Getting on SS disability. More riots and flash mobs attacking people.

[PieterCasparzen]

Apparently there are many Americans who would like to have the police just leave them and their cocaine and heroin alone so they can party. Many on FR. They equate those with having a glass of wine.

Is there no end to people lumping beer and wine and tobacco in with cocaine ? Do they really think they’re fooling anyone ?

Are hard drugs the “great freedom” that we’re fighting for ? Do you really want to snort cocaine ? Smoke crack ? If you could never do that again, would life still be worth living ?

I’ve seen the utterly foolish “first they came for the drug dealers” flawed reasoning. Using that logic, I could set up a fun beastiality playland at my house, with friendly clown signs out front. Would my neighbors with small children be stifling my freedom if they sought to shut me down ? After all, I’m just doing this in my own yard, not bothering anyone... /sarc Sorry, but the police do “come for” criminals. Allowing criminals to walk free is not a hallmark of a good society. And the only ones who insist that drugs do not mess up the lives of young people are druggies. Anyone who has had teenagers recently - who bothers to be aware - knows that drug use is rampant in the suburbs, it is pushed on children by their peers and most media, the public schools love the idea of another generation of ignorant hippies so they feign concern while enabling it to continue, and it only serves to have your child become difficult and lazy, rendering their life a mess until they can unentangle themselves from their love affair with the drugs and their drug friends.

If a drug is something that you can’t walk away from - then it is controlling you. Drugs are hallucinogenic. An alcoholic drink, in moderation, takes the edge off, causes relaxation. That’s why alcohol is typically an ingredient in cold medicines, because it lets one get sleep. If one drinks alcolhol and starts hallucinating, it is time to stop drinking. But that’s the only aim of drugs. They don’t “go well with beef” like bordeaux, or “after a fine meal with nuts” like a well-rolled cigar with Connecticut shade wrapper. They simply cause loss of one’s mental faculties, ranging from uncontrolled giggling to dementia.

If there were no drugs - even pot - there still would be a police force required. There still would be criminal gangs.

Mobsters have ALWAYS tried to portray themelves as some kind of independent American heroes. The media loves the excitement of bad guys and pushes it on the gullible.

Not such a nice fantasy when you have a gangster hitting you up for money every week breaking your fingers, threatening your family members, to get your gambling debt to them repaid. Which has nothing at all to do with drugs. It’s just about stupid bullies who are lazy, and think themselves smart for bullying others out of hard-earned money rather than earning for themselves, an age-old profession. And said bullies, if they gave up the crime and put half the effort into legitimate business, would make more. They really stay in crime because of the romance of it, not because they can acheive more.

Let’s get real, crime is not good, it has to be punished severely. The WOD fails simply because the buyers only get punishments that do not deter them from coming back and buying again. All those buyers create what economists call demand for the products. The WOD focuses primarily on the supply side, rendering it not only ineffective, but actually causing higher market prices and therefore more aggressive selling activity.

[Captain PJ]

How can you be so sure?

[SouthTexas]

Moody’s just downgraded their debt.

[stuartcr]

It’s all about the $$$

[stuartcr]

Perhaps those new problems will be easily solved, or not as bad as the current ones?

[Ken H]

How do you justify supporting laws based on the New Deal Commerce Clause?

Aside from the original Commerce Clause and Tenth Amendment, what other sections of the Constitution are you willing to see trampled?

[PeterPrinciple]

Perhaps those new problems will be easily solved, or not as bad as the current ones?

---

Perhaps, or perhaps not......................

We do know that everytime govt tries to solve a problem they create more.

[B4Ranch]

>>It’ll never happen here.<<

You think like I do.

Because we’re so much more advanced than the rest of the world. Yeah, right.

We fill our legislative offices with diseased officials then complain about diarrhea. The best part is we’ll re-elect the sorry sh!ts over and over again!

[FreedomNotSafety]

So your post lays out some good logic for not doing drugs except for alcohol which seems to you to be an excellent way to relax or enjoy food and of course if it causes you to have hallucinations you should quit.

Now layout the case as to why I should be taxed and live in a police state to keep other people from using those drugs (except alcohol which you endorse)? Explain to me why people shouldn’t be allowed to do as they please so long as it doesn’t hurt you.

By your own post you admit the war on drugs has failed in your drug ridden neighborhood. So give up your money and freedoms in your neighborhood but leave mine out of it. We do not need your laws.

Great example using bestiality and I guess you believe if it were not illegal we would have a big increase in animal lovers? Where do you live?

[B4Ranch]

>>We have too many idiots and too many irresponsible people in America. <<

Much like you I have a very low opinion of most people who are on subsistance. I am sure Portugal has lots of idiots and too many irresponsible people so why didn’t their country collapse? They’re in better shape than we are!

[stuartcr]

That holds true for every solution if you look deep enough.

[stuartcr]

We can only elect those that run.

[PieterCasparzen]

Now layout the case as to why I should be taxed

Sorry, we all need to pay taxes. Overtaxation is only required when there is overspending on the part of the government.

and live in a police state to keep other people from using those drugs (except alcohol which you endorse)? Explain to me why people shouldn’t be allowed to do as they please so long as it doesn’t hurt you.

I live in what appears to be a very nice suburban community as one drives through. But delving in a little closer, one finds drug use not all that uncommon amongst children who atten the local public schools. Now I'll go real slowly: anyone who allows their child to socialize with children in public schools is exposing their children to the drug and partying culture, which can very negatively impact their children. So even drugs done in my neighbor's lovely mansion have an affect on the rest of the neighborhood, since we live in a society where people interact. At the very least, they INVITE EACH OTHER TO PARTIES. Now this is the tough part to understand: it is much more difficult to dissuade my teenager from attending a party where LEGAL drugs are being offered than one where ILLEGAL drugs are being offered, as junior will say - BUT IT'S LEGAL, DAD.

Very affluent, otherwise beautiful towns have a lot of drug abuse, just the same as ghettos and everything in between. Oftentimes people think that drug abuse is fine and that they can manage their life. Some people have an incredibly high tolerance for lengthy periods of time before their health fails. All the while it looks to the observer like they are coping fine, it leaves others thinking that they can keep up with this person's partying. If one abuses drugs inside their home and no one ever hears or suspects anything about it in anything they say or do, theoretically they would have no influence on anyone else. I think if you reconsider all the possible effects, though, you may begin to question whether this "zero-effect" is truly the case.

In terms of alcoholic drinks, I'm not rooting for their acceptance; they've been a part of society for thousands of years. As our Lord Jesus Christ turned water into wine for people to drink at a wedding, as a Christian I reason that it is acceptable for us to partake of wine, since our Lord would have certainly admonished us to abstain from wine if that were His intention. There are clear Scriptural admonitions to avoid drunkenness, however, and there is a very clear and straightforward doctrinal reasoning behind the avoidance of inebriation through the use of any substance which is fundamental to the theology presented in the New Testament.

[PeterPrinciple]

That holds true for every solution if you look deep enough.

---

Exactly, but liberals are constantly looking for change and utopia. And many conservatives also.

[stuartcr]

Everything changes with time, that’s just the way it is.

[PeterPrinciple]

Another article on Portugal, dare we say this is a causal relationship?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2744297/posts

[LowOiL]

Thank you for your posts here sir.

[B4Ranch]

>>There also is an increasing probability Portugal will not be able to borrow at sustainable rates in capital markets in the second half of 2013 and for some time thereafter, Moody’s said.

Portugal is receiving funds from a three-year, 78-billion-euro ($112 billion) EU/IMF bailout program and does not need to issue long-term debt in the market until 2013.

Portugal faces formidable challenges in reducing spending, increasing tax compliance, achieving economic growth and supporting the banking system, the agency said.<<

In three months this will be written about us.

>>a causal relationship?<<

You keep your hands to yourself and I’ll do the same. I might even buy the first round. LOL

[Popman]

America is not Portugal.....sorry, but decriminalizing won’t do this country any good....

Depends on what you decriminalize

Marijuana is the excellent drug to decriminalize, we literally have thousands of people in prison doing time for marijuana related crimes which is very costly, have millions of people with felony criminal records for minor marijuana related crimes like possessing an empty bong. Yes, that's a class "C" felony

Our justice system is over burdened dealing with minor marijuana crimes simply to keep the cash flow coming in to pay for all the public sector justice workers at county and state levels.

Get caught carrying under 28 grams of dope, how about a nice $500.00 fine and go to school like a speeding ticket instead of thousands of dollars of court costs, probation and weekly psychobabble sessions which you pay for.