5 Years After: Portugal's Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results »
Posted By tehranchik 7 months ago in Political NewsIn the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.
Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Inst
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tehranchik
Well, I'm from and live in the Pacific Northwest. I did live in the middle east during the late 70's and early 80 ...
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tehranchik7 months ago
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CATO paper:
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http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080 -
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ADAGUY7 months ago
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I have one question that the article doesn't touch on. Usage, and possession will be decriminalized, while dealing will still remain a crime. This seems to do nothing to solve the problem of eliminating the profit from the drugs, so to stop the "drug wars", and the constant importation of drugs.
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To get to the point, will these drugs be legally available through pharmacies?
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