Portugal's drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons

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phr

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Portugal's drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons
BARRY HATTON and MARTHA MENDOZA
The AP
12.27.2010


LISBON, Portugal -- These days, Casal Ventoso is an ordinary blue-collar community - mothers push baby strollers, men smoke outside cafes, buses chug up and down the cobbled main street.

Ten years ago, the Lisbon neighborhood was a hellhole, a "drug supermarket" where some 5,000 users lined up every day to buy heroin and sneaked into a hillside honeycomb of derelict housing to shoot up. In dark, stinking corners, addicts - some with maggots squirming under track marks - staggered between the occasional corpse, scavenging used, bloody needles.

At that time, Portugal, like the junkies of Casal Ventoso, had hit rock bottom: An estimated 100,000 people - an astonishing 1 percent of the population - were addicted to illegal drugs. So, like anyone with little to lose, the Portuguese took a risky leap: They decriminalized the use of all drugs in a groundbreaking law in 2000.

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EDITOR'S NOTE - This is part of an occasional series by The Associated Press examining the U.S. struggles in its war on drugs after four decades and $1 trillion.

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Now, the United States, which has waged a 40-year, $1 trillion war on drugs, is looking for answers in tiny Portugal, which is reaping the benefits of what once looked like a dangerous gamble. White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske visited Portugal in September to learn about its drug reforms, and other countries - including Norway, Denmark, Australia and Peru - have taken interest, too.

"The disasters that were predicted by critics didn't happen," said University of Kent professor Alex Stevens, who has studied Portugal's program. "The answer was simple: Provide treatment."

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Drugs in Portugal are still illegal. But here's what Portugal did: It changed the law so that users are sent to counseling and sometimes treatment instead of criminal courts and prison. The switch from drugs as a criminal issue to a public health one was aimed at preventing users from going underground.

Other European countries treat drugs as a public health problem, too, but Portugal stands out as the only one that has written that approach into law. The result: More people tried drugs, but fewer ended up addicted.

Here's what happened between 2000 and 2008:

...

Link!
 
The US just tries to ban drugs harder and harder, and the more they try the more addicts they get :P its just how people work, if they aren't allowed, they will do it even more, it's in our nature
 
The people in this country that approve of and support solutions like this will read that and think happy thoughts, the people that dont approve of what Portugal's done are fighting the Drug war, imprisoning weed smokers, or collecting income from arrests and citations. cus after all, its a criminal issue and not a social one, right? 8)
 
If only the US gov would learn something from this...

It seems that no amount of evidence will stop the drug war. :\
 
This article is a fluff piece. The US is eyeing Portugal's drug policy? Because the czar took a trip to Lisbon 3 months ago?

The drug czar speaks abvout revising the WAR rhetoric and expanding the role of drug courts and this is compared to the Portugese decriminalization?

No the US has no intention of loosening its drug laws, nor does it care how things go in Portugal.
 
thats another part of the damn problem right there, we dont need a frigging drug czar..we already have an entire government agency that makes sure trafficking and cartel-to-politcian relationships are running smoothly..
 
The US will never be that liberal. We try to make sure everyone has health care and people get pissed off and say the Government is trying to turn in to a welfare state. Our conservative base is way too large to ever see the obvious. The conservative point of view is drug users are criminals and need to be punished. Even after 40 years of obvious failure with the War on Drugs we still pump billions a year to keep it going. Any progressive ideals are considered socialism or marxism.

Our only hope is the sad truth that capitalism has become suicidal for this country. By engaging in free trade we lost so much of our manufacturing base that gave anyone the opportunity to live the "American Dream" that our unemployment and poverty levels grow and grow. I hope that the powers that be see the obvious and that people aren't poor because they are lazy, it is because we no longer build the products we consume. We send our money all over the world. We used to buy American, and that employed people, now we buy cheap junk from China and outsource our call centers to India, etc, all for the sake of profit, helping the few while punishing the many. The people that made 50k a year manufacturing now do not have the same opportunities they did 20 years ago and are ostracized for a problem they didn't create. If we treat our working people like that drug addicts have no shot.
 
!_MDMA_! said:
US will probably adopt this policy then starting bragging about how it invented it when they achieve success. great success!
Click to expand...

You are living in a dream land.. The US government makes too much money from importing illegal schedule I narcotics into the USA and then turning around and arresting the people that are caught with the drugs that the government imported.. I know it doesn't make sense to you but they actually can make a profit off prisoners now days... And by the way the US still has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the entire WORLD!

Oh and by the way, in the next 10 years the current US gov't wants to have 50% + of US citizens locked up in the system for drug and other non-violent offences..

I guarantee that, just watch... quote me in a decade on this... you will see..
 
lozgod said:
The US will never be that liberal. We try to make sure everyone has health care and people get pissed off and say the Government is trying to turn in to a welfare state. Our conservative base is way too large to ever see the obvious. The conservative point of view is drug users are criminals and need to be punished. Even after 40 years of obvious failure with the War on Drugs we still pump billions a year to keep it going. Any progressive ideals are considered socialism or marxism.

Our only hope is the sad truth that capitalism has become suicidal for this country. By engaging in free trade we lost so much of our manufacturing base that gave anyone the opportunity to live the "American Dream" that our unemployment and poverty levels grow and grow. I hope that the powers that be see the obvious and that people aren't poor because they are lazy, it is because we no longer build the products we consume. We send our money all over the world. We used to buy American, and that employed people, now we buy cheap junk from China and outsource our call centers to India, etc, all for the sake of profit, helping the few while punishing the many. The people that made 50k a year manufacturing now do not have the same opportunities they did 20 years ago and are ostracized for a problem they didn't create. If we treat our working people like that drug addicts have no shot.
Click to expand...


Perceptibly said.

as the British would say,

"CHEERS MATE!"
 
lozgod said:
The US will never be that liberal. We try to make sure everyone has health care and people get pissed off and say the Government is trying to turn in to a welfare state. Our conservative base is way too large to ever see the obvious. The conservative point of view is drug users are criminals and need to be punished. Even after 40 years of obvious failure with the War on Drugs we still pump billions a year to keep it going. Any progressive ideals are considered socialism or marxism.

Our only hope is the sad truth that capitalism has become suicidal for this country. By engaging in free trade we lost so much of our manufacturing base that gave anyone the opportunity to live the "American Dream" that our unemployment and poverty levels grow and grow. I hope that the powers that be see the obvious and that people aren't poor because they are lazy, it is because we no longer build the products we consume. We send our money all over the world. We used to buy American, and that employed people, now we buy cheap junk from China and outsource our call centers to India, etc, all for the sake of profit, helping the few while punishing the many. The people that made 50k a year manufacturing now do not have the same opportunities they did 20 years ago and are ostracized for a problem they didn't create. If we treat our working people like that drug addicts have no shot.
Click to expand...

i want you to be president of the united states
 
Yes the very people who once smoked weed, did cocaine etc. in college are now the Right wing Say no to drugs people. And many of them still use drugs although more precription "legal dope" like that Rush Limbaugh idoit who once called for death to drug users, or some stupid shit,and then a few years later he gets busted for his addiction to OxyContin,illegaly obtained it seems as well. He gets rehab and is all excepted back among the sheep into the "flock of lies and hypocrisy".
I guess if you are rich or a member of a cetain political group or have family connections ,then your cocaine or weed or any drug use during college is deemed "experimental" youthfull type shit. C'Mon what the hell. If you do a few grams of blow every day no matter what your age, it's more than experimenting! Half of the coke snorting college kids grew up to be lawyers,and most likely still hoover up cokelike a vacuum!
 
Completely off topic and pointless but (taken from Wikipedia):

On December 14, 2009, the Czech Republic adopted a new law that took effect on January 1, 2010, and allows a person to possess up to 15 grams of marijuana or 1.5 grams of heroin without facing criminal charges. These amounts are higher (often many times) than in any other European country, possibly making the Czech Republic the most liberal country in the world when it comes to drug liberalization.
 
deez_nuggs said:
i want you to be president of the united states
Click to expand...

lol. Thanks. A lot of people say that to me. I was big on politics on FB from March to November and people were saying I should run. Call me a socialist but I believe any adult that gets up and goes to work should make a living that can support their family, and not like a slave, just enough to provide shelter and food, I mean enjoy life. We have become owned by Wall Street. The majority of Ameicans make enough to survive, wake up, and go to work and produce products and services for the corporation they are employeed by so the CEO's of that company can be very wealthy.

The War on drugs pay many people very well. Privatized prison, privatized prison medical companies, for profit rehabilitation centers, pharmaceutical companies that make methadone and suboxone, etc. In addition to that, drugs provide an escape for those in poor conditions and are allowed in the poor areas so that they may be introduced to the drug, become addicted, and stay oppressed. You never hear about drugs in the media until it kills a rich white suburban kid, but everyday 100s and 1000s die from drugs but they are not news worthy. I used to think being an American was a great thing. I hate this country now. If I spoke another language I would consider leaving. Instead I stay and vote progressive liberal and try to persuade people to do the same. The political process helps at times but it is a slow process. LBJ and civil rights in the 60s, FDR did a lot for the labor movement in the 30s and 40s but that was undone greatly since, especially after Reagan and the Bush's and Clinton. Clinton wasn't a true liberal, and neither is Obama. Obama is the biggest fraud and it sucks because I believed him and he turned out to be a liar and a half. Most of his appointments are Wall Street lobbyists and Wall Street CEOs after claiming Wall Street's influence on government was one of our countries biggest concerns. Our last true non-puppet was Kennedy, and once he announce his intentions on eliminating fiat currency, the Federal Reserve, and the IRS a magic bullet that can make a u-turn took him out.
 
i think its been clear to many people that the us isnt half of what it says it is. too bad most people will never see it this way.

the sheeple as mentioned in south park
i agree with u loz america makes too much money opressing its people for them to care about social issues

you may hate america but i hate to break it to you its not better elsewhere. atleast in america being a regular worker will get u car, personal possesions, etc. in other countries 24 hour sweatshops and blood diamonds get you a meal a day. this is all a product of capitalism, and as long as you live under capitalist economy dont expect better elsewhere
 
Our only hope is the sad truth that capitalism has become suicidal for this country
............................

That's about it, but apply it to the planet.

The future is one of ever worsening crisis.

The full implication of what you are saying is global revolution.

The past failure of that project does not mean capitalism has overcome its limits.

When the ship is sinking, you try to get off, no matter that others failed.
 
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