No criminal penalties for possession of recreational drugs in Portugal

[Friday]

Can't believe I never heard about this before!   

Portugal's Wildly Successful Drug Decriminalization

In 2001 Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs -- marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and others.

Instead of jail, those found possessing drugs for personal use are offered treatment -- and that treatment may be refused without punishment. (Drug selling continued to be illegal.)

How is that bold experiment working? Astonishingly well, according to a new study by the libertarian Cato Institute.

"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says attorney and author Glenn Greenwald, who conducted the Cato study. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."

Examples:

* Decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which are now among the lowest in the European Union (EU), particularly when compared with nations with strong drug criminalization laws.
* Deaths due to drug usage have decreased dramatically.
* Rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles has dropped.
* Drug use among teens in Portugal has declined.
* Resources spent on pursuing drug users are now directed to treatment or to other law enforcement needs.
* The number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction has more than doubled (due to greater opportunity for treatment and the removal of legal threats).
* Fears that Portugal would be plagued by addicts and "drug tourists" seeking drugs proved to be groundless.
* Portugal's decriminalization is popular among the citizenry and political leaders. There is no serious political opposition to the policy.

Greenwald notes that one of the biggest reasons the Drug War in the U.S. still enjoys support, despite its obvious failure, is fear that relegalization of drugs could lead to increased drug use, especially among the young. In Portugal, the data clearly shows this did not happen.

Reviewing the Cato study, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorialized: "...by almost every measure, the drug situation in Portugal is better than it is in other European nations that still criminalize personal usage. ... [The Obama administration should] use Portugal as a powerful example in urging an end to the U.S. drug war that's a losing effort for all concerned."

Glenn Greenwald concludes: "Within [Portugal's] success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world."

source: Liberator Online

[nemoslaw]

I went to Spain (right next to Portugal) and you can drink a beer and smoke a J in public, they don't have cops in the villages, just in the big cities. Meaning if you are not causing trouble they don't enforce or give a hoot what you do, they are far more liberal in Spain. I guess Spain has already dealt with extreme facism and as a result they don't sweat the petty shit anymore.