Comments on: Drug use by minors in Portugal plunges after decriminalization

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Dont forget to thank Regan for the war on drugs, the most recent big push anyways. To forget this is disingenuous.

By: wolf354

wolf354 — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:04:58 +0000

Ah… Excuse me but I live in Portugal, the numbers going down has got nothing to do with the legislation (or lack of it).
Portugal suffered 20 years of serious problems, if something was stolen everybody already knew what king of people to look for, people dieing is always unpleasant, complete lifes destroyed isn’t very nice to watch.
People already saw too much and are tired of it.
But it seems to me that you are trying to “blame” the portuguese law … and you are wrong.
Drug trafic is still a crime, if you annoy a police man you can be very sorry (there is no “legal” possession discriminated, the police man judges what might you be).
The big difference is that comsuption had to go to court for a trial and now it got reduced to a fine.
Good … but do you expect that such a measure will make anything with consumption?
Legal High’s probably will replace many drugs in the near future … but it won’t be so fast.

By: Drug Legalization: The Worst Option, Except for All the Others

Drug Legalization: The Worst Option, Except for All the Others — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:02:57 +0000

[...] has been cut in half, marijuana use is the lowest in the European Union, and most importantly, drug use by TEENAGERS has virtually collapsed. The Dutch also have much lower drug usage rates than Americans. Every statistic on drugs points in [...]

By: jen

jen — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:24:07 +0000

also it should stay criminalized but instead of being incarcerated they should be put into rehab facility to detox or there should mandatory meetings and therapy instead kind of like probation.Keeping an eye on them.what would convince a drug addict to stop if it is legal. Even criminalizing drugs isnt a big deterence. but we should stop all of this unnecessary spending on lost policies

By: jen

jen — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:18:59 +0000

wow alot of people are being rediculous. alot of drugs should not be legalized sure maybe marijuana, but it would be hard to tax because people can just grow it at their house.Some are saying that if the government were to legalize all drugs they would not make as much money… if drugs were legalized they could get thier money,it would be like any other business. probably alot of the money the government and other organizations profit off offrom drug convistions and fines goes right back into the system. we spend soooo much money keeping the non violent drug offenders in prison. to keep a juvenile in probation i could pay for a students 4 year college tuition in one year with the amoutn they spend on keeping a delinquent in correctional facility.

By: Jett La Rue

Jett La Rue — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:54:47 +0000

Terry Kelly: People who have an addiction have a mental disease. Sending them to be isolated from society, real life, is not going to keep them from going back to the same behaviour. From personal experience with others I know it does not. What these people need is support from the community and if anything the gross amount of tax dollars that go for incarceration could well be spent on rehabilitation. Yes stealing and other related crimes should be punished, but remember meth, smack, or crack did not commit these crimes, the people did. These people have gotten to a point where they need a drug to live. If you had diabetes and needed insulin would you not steal also? But putting you in jail will not help, and putting them in jail will not help, it only temporarily hides it with a large amount of cash.

By: that smell

that smell — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:54:53 +0000

archimedes – with all due respect,

when you ask a child or teenager NOT to do something that you have unintentionally “glorified”, what do you think they do?
exactly, they do it simply because they
know everything (in their mind). It is simple psychology and human nature to want that which we cannot have.

like everyone else has stated, too many of our social elite have a lot riding on the war on drugs which makes it virtually impossible for the people with lives to do something about it.
our society has banned marijuana and has categorized it with heroin, do you not think that that makes it a little bit more appealing to the rebellious youth? drug use is the reaction to another problem…

marijuana is not a drug; meth, crack, heroin, and lsd should remain illegal. the natural stuff such as weed and shrooms should be made legal. unfortunately, dumbasses abuse these substances. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

By: Archimedes

Archimedes — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:55:00 +0000

I would like to know…

Was it the use of drugs that has decreased or the merely the reporting of such use?

Drugs in Portugal are not legal, it’s just not a criminal act to have drugs. So is it treated like a speeding ticket? Pay your fine, move on and try not to get caught?

I wonder how the administration and execution of these changes have been handled.

I’m of mind that there are just less reported incidences. If you take away the fear of punishment, people that normally would not have taken the drug will now try it because they have nothing to fear.

By: Terry Kelly

Terry Kelly — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:57:46 +0000

I’m a cop. I’m not a narc, I’m a general criminal investigator. That means I investigate all of the crimes that are the result of drug abuse and addiction; burglaries, thefts, assaults, homicides, sexual abuse, etc.

While I don’t have a problem with legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana, I fail to see the advantage of legalizing methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates, psychadelics, etc. These drugs are involved, DIRECTLY, with more than 70% of the crimes I investigate.

Let’s take meth. People who use meth become addicted to meth. It starts with snorting, then smoking and finally injecting the drug, because it takes more and more to achieve the same level of intoxication over time. It becomes the central point of these peoples lives. They get high, steal to either buy the drug or the ingredients to make the drug, get high, steal to …well, you get the point. How would legalizing this “solve” this problem? Even if it could be bought at WalMart, they don’t have a legitimate income, ad would still have to steal to get the money to buy the drugs. We, as a society, would still pay the price.

Yep, prohibition against alcohol didn’t work. But people are capable of using alcohol recreationally. I submit that is not possible with a large number of scheduled narcotics.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:50:42 +0000

Updated to note that this graph is a subset, not the overall effect. For minors, usage went down, which is the segment most people are worried about.

bull shit, drugs are the most prevelent reason for homicides, if legalized there will be more terf wars and drug robberies.

How many people die because of the turf wars between McDonald’s and Burger King? Or between ABC Liquor and Beverage Castle?

C’mon Rick. Violence surrounds drugs because they are illegal. When you sell something illegal, you can’t go to the cops when someone rips you off. Illegal (but desired) goods create black markets, and black markets are attractive to criminal enterprises. The same thing happened when we made alcohol illegal in the United States. As soon as it became legal again, the criminal aspect of alcohol vanished.

By: rick

rick — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:43:58 +0000

bull shit, drugs are the most prevelent reason for homicides, if legalized there will be more terf wars and drug robberies. Some people think they know what goes on.More drugs more murders….. more people driking alcohol more dui deaths.. you would think differently if your child got hooked on drugs…

By: James

James — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:22:04 +0000

Gort wrote:

“Now will someone please explain to me how many of the folks that see this result (i.e. deregulation = alleviation of the problem) as a good thing are of the opinion that government regulation of the economy is necessary?”

We have a winner!!!
Yes, I have wondered the same thing. I see that no one answered your question…much to uncomfortable to acknowledge!

By: Veed

Veed — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:21:17 +0000

You all might be missing one importart part.

This was for 10th, 11th, and 12th years of school. One segment of an entire society.

Before you go judging whether the US should do this, look at data over the entire nation of portugal..

By: Drug use in Portugal plunges after decriminalization « My Mind

Drug use in Portugal plunges after decriminalization « My Mind — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:30:07 +0000

[...] Link: http://txfx.net/2009/04/08/drug-use-in-portugal-plunges-after-decriminalization/ [...]

By: JD

JD — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:35:50 +0000

Those that support prohibition, I have one question that I have yet seen answered.

Alcohol prohibition in the 1920′s resulted in organized crime, police and political corruption and black markets. Keep in mind that alcohol is the most abused drug of all and is responsible for more deaths than all illegal drugs combined. If alcohol prohibition was a terrible failure and was repealed after 10 years, why do you believe other drug prohibition will work after 90 years?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, so goes the war on drugs.