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from the stop-treating-medical-issues-as-legal-problems dept.
The old rat-with-drug-laced-water "experiment" is a sham. The only choice the rat in the empty cage has is drinking plain water or drinking drugged water. They never show you a CONTROL where there is a rat with a cage full of cool rat toys and rat friends.
Johann Hari reports via Alternet:
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection. [...] just 17.7 percent of cigarette smokers are able to stop [smoking by] using nicotine patches.
[...]Nearly 15 years ago, Portugal had one of the worst drug problems in Europe [...] They decided to do something radically different. They resolved to decriminalize all drugs and transfer all the money they used to spend on arresting and jailing drug addicts and spend it instead on reconnecting them--to their own feelings and to the wider society.
[...]The [sic] most crucial step is to get [addicts] secure housing [as well as] subsidized jobs so they have a purpose in life and something to get out of bed for. I watched as they are helped, in warm and welcoming clinics, to learn how to reconnect with their feelings after years of trauma and stunning them into silence with drugs.
[...]An independent study by the British Journal of Criminology found that, since total decriminalization, addiction has fallen and injecting drug use is down by 50 percent.
[...]The main campaigner against the decriminalization back in 2000 was Joao Figueira, the country's top drug cop. He offered all the dire warnings that we would expect: more crime, more addicts; but when we sat together in Lisbon, he told me that everything he predicted had not come to pass--and he now hopes the whole world will follow Portugal's example.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by hoochiecoochieman on Friday February 13 2015, @06:14PM
You are right, I'm severely biased. This is a free forum. I don't have to be neutral, or even reasonable. Paulo Portas, the current Portuguese government and the right-wing in general make want to puke my guts out. So every chance I have to stick it to them, I do.
Isn't that pretty obvious in my comment? If I did, we wouldn't have a right-wing government, would we?
Yes, I'm an urbanite. Is that a sin? Anyway, the vast majority of the Portuguese population is highly concentrated in coastal cities. I bet most of the Communist old men in rural Alentejo disapprove of gay marriage (but not their grandchildren, though). However, it was approved in the Parliament with the votes of the whole Left, including the Communist Party.
I approve what the Justice Minister said. May I remind you it was a personal opinion, and she was severely diced for saying it? It's funny that the Prime Minister had to come and publicly contradict her, but he has always kept quiet about the numerous fuck-ups that have been happening on her watch. Anyway, most right-wing people I know, even those who smoke hash, strongly oppose to drug legalisation.
To me, it's absurd. What it does is feeding criminal organisations with shitloads of money. Marijuana should be legalised and its production and distribution heavily regulated, like the other legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol (which, by the way, cause a lot more damage than cannabis ever did).
Yes, that risk exists. However, if many countries do the same move, there will be no incentive for anyone to travel anywhere to smoke a joint.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Silentknyght on Friday February 13 2015, @08:52PM
I appreciate the back-and-forth from people who actually have informed opinions. Yay soylentnews. :)
(Score: 1) by mmarujo on Friday February 20 2015, @12:52PM
My personal opinion is that of the justice minister, it should be completely legalized although there is the strong possibility of drug tourism in Portugal. If the Netherlands became a drug tourism destination, a touristic country like Portugal would have probably the same outcome.
Yes, that risk exists. However, if many countries do the same move, there will be no incentive for anyone to travel anywhere to smoke a joint.
I never understood the "drug tourism" point of view as opposed as the Wine Tourism, TV keeps telling us is really good, and should be encouraged!