Where Drug Legalization Works
That bastion of permissiveness, Time, reports this week on Portugal, a conservative nation that:
In 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
It’s working out well. Busts result in optional dates with before a panel made up of a social worker, psychologist and a legal adviser. Illegal drug use among teens is down, as are HIV infections. Bill Bratton can talk all the smack he wants, but Time is onto something. Leading might be a better way of decribing what Henry Luce’s creation is up to.
I type in advocacy even though can’t remember the last time I imbibed Mary Jane. And my memory fails not because my heavy-duty past usage, I think.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Ditto. I’m not sure why the powers that be do not wake up and realize that the war against drugs has failed. And failed miserably. Perhaps, the best arguement is that its just not cost effective. The time, energy, money, not to mention lives, that this war is costing isn’t commensurable to the effect it is having.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Drug abuse should be a public health issue, not a criminal one. It would at least take a lot of violence out of the drug trade to make it legal. And you could argue that pot use is a victimless crime, those ridiculous public service commercials not withstanding.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Let’s remember that there’s drug misuse - Like when you take aspirin for diarrhea.
Drug use is when one, say, eats a pot brownie to control their nausea.
And drug abuse: When someone shoots smack because their anxious about work or relationships.
Pot use is not a victimless crime. It can be a religious experience.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I should ad here that I have now been given recall of what weed feels like… and boy is it amazing!
Also, I’m also not the only one who thinks Jesus would have wanted you to have the chronic —
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2009/04/medical-marijuana.html