Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
If semantics are the issue, then yes, I should have said "decriminalized" and not "legal". Alcohol is "legal" in the US, but illegal if you are under 21, drink too much of it in public, drink too much of it and drive...etc.
So it is "illegal" but there is no "criminal penalty".
Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? - TIME
... Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy.
Decriminalized or legalized, it worked in the very Catholic country of Portugal, and I think it could work here in the US.
Imagine what would happen if the government sold marijuana at pennies on the dollar of what the drug cartels sell it at. How many lives would that save a year? Decriminalization means no more money to drug cartels. Thousands of lives would be saved every year. |
How many lives has legalizing cigarettes and alcohol saved? Cheap drugs are no less addicting than expensive ones. The tax and treatment method does not solve problems, it merely changes them. Legalizing a drug does not make it any less addictive.
I don't disagree that Portugal's system has been a success (of sorts), but it's due more to the treatment options which were also implemented. It's not as revolutionary as it is made out to be. Possession of small amounts of drugs is not a serious crime in America, and in may places it is not a crime at all, merely an "infraction", just as it is in Portugal. But drugs are still illegal in Portugal, and drug users are still supporting the drug cartels, are they not?
Were it not for the potential psychological side effects of marijuana use, I wouldn't mind if it were legalized. But as I said in another post, up to 80% of new cases of schizophrenia and psychosis are thought to be related to marijuana use. These side effects are permanent. The side effects from smoking and alcohol are generally treatable, and those who suffer from them can live more or less productive lives. Mental illness is another matter altogether, it's been determined in some studies that smoking marijuana as few as 5 times is enough to bring about schizophrenia in people who have a family history of it, and that's just too scary. If it causes these effects in just 1% of users, that is still too high a number to tolerate.