Portugal Decriminalizes all drugs (for personal use)
Offline the BBC TV (in the US) reported today, that Portugal decriminalized all drugs (for personal use).
Note that I didn't read the written report from the BBC website. However, the BBC implied that the decriminalization was not recent, by reporting a number statements suggesting the
decriminalization has been in effect long enough to compile statistics in Potugal on a drop in:
1. drug use,
2. HIV infections,
3. the number of drug addicts.
Drug trafficing is still illegal, as would large quantities of drugs.
The BBC TV (US) report implied that Portugal has had an infrastructure of drug addiction treatment centers for many years.
Those treatment centers still operate.
So much for the last refuge of any justification of Nixon and his predecessors sickening "War on Drugs."
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Not really surprised in any way by this.
After all, we have a lovely working history of prohibition.
Right?
Right guys?
Theism is why we can't have nice things.
Drop in drug use.I had NPR on and heard this news,it just goes to show how wrong the anti-legal oppositions was,they were saying that all of these people will go to Portugal to get legally high.We need to make drug use legal here (USA),it would do so much,like get "The State" to see the light,and focus on real crime.
Signature ? How ?
What right did the state have to criminalize it in the first place?
It was done by religionists and moral crusaders, same as criminalizing prostitution and liquor. Because it was competition. Religion wanted a monopoly, just a good business strategy to eliminate the competition.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
The BBC article in question.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8106689.stm
In 2001, the Portugese government decriminalised recreational drugs including heroin and cocaine in an attempt to reduce the number of hard drug users in the country. Eight years later, Claudia Hammond visited Lisbon to see whether the change in the law had been effective.
How can not believing in something that is backed up with no empirical evidence be less scientific than believing in something that not only has no empirical evidence but actually goes against the laws of the universe and in many cases actually contradicts itself? - Ricky Gervais