- Joined
- 14 February 2005
- Posts
- 15,367
- Reactions
- 17,733
A drug yes but last time I checked alcohol wasn't illicit. Are you suggesting it ought to be?madhun said:
A drug yes but last time I checked alcohol wasn't illicit. Are you suggesting it ought to be?madhun said:
Alcohol remains the biggest public health risk of all illicit drug use.
Happy said:As an alternative, give them free holidays in Bali for example.
The war on drugs is over and we lost, says a new report by a group made up of federal law enforcement officers, health ministers and premiers.
I hope this report is the start of an honest, evidence based debate on the issue
Drugs in Portugal are still illegal. But here’s what Portugal did: It changed the law so that users are sent to counseling and sometimes treatment instead of criminal courts and prison. The switch from drugs as a criminal issue to a public health one was aimed at preventing users from going underground.
Other European countries treat drugs as a public health problem, too, but Portugal stands out as the only one that has written that approach into law. The result: More people tried drugs, but fewer ended up addicted.
Here’s what happened between 2000 and 2008:
_ There were small increases in illicit drug use among adults, but decreases for adolescents and problem users, such as drug addicts and prisoners.
_ Drug-related court cases dropped 66 percent.
_ Drug-related HIV cases dropped 75 percent. In 2002, 49 percent of people with AIDS were addicts; by 2008 that number fell to 28 percent.
_ The number of regular users held steady at less than 3 percent of the population for marijuana and less than 0.3 percent for heroin and cocaine ”” figures which show decriminalization brought no surge in drug use.
_ The number of people treated for drug addiction rose 20 percent from 2001 to 2008.
Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.
Beyond the data, Portugal's success with decriminalization is illustrated by the absence of political agitation for a return to criminalization. As one might expect for a socially conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic country, the decriminalization proposal sparked intense controversy a decade ago.
Portugal, we should be looking at Portugal...
And then sit back with a big joint and light up.
About 3/4 of the population in jail's are drug related so we all pay as well as Hilfiger insurance due to break and enters caused by addicts looking for some thing to steal.
Senator Carr, whose younger brother died of a heroin overdose, contributed to the report before entering federal politics.
"I don't believe a legalised drug regime can work, I'm opposed to that," Senator Carr said.
Today's report, written for the think tank Australia21, claims the war on drugs has failed and Australia should consider legalising some substances.
Carr joins calls for rethink of drugs laws
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?