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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws?
    #13290501 - 10/04/10 08:13 PM (13 years, 7 months ago)

Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws?
October 3, 2010 - BBC

Some analysts suggest that lessons can be learned from Portugal's drug laws. So how are things done differently there?

As she waited calmly with fellow drug users queuing for their weekly treatment in Lisbon's main detox centre, Anna was happy to talk about the addiction that has blighted her for the past 15 years.

The 53-year-old drug user, who preferred not to give her surname, said she was now able to lead a normal life because of Portugal's enlightened approach that favours public health over the criminalisation of drug users.

Anna visits Lisbon's 'Centro das Taipas' each week to receive the heroin substitute methadone.

She explained: "I had a good life, and when I started taking drugs I spoilt my life and now I am drug-free again and I am well. When I feel ok I will stop methadone, if necessary on an in-patient basis."

The change in law that led to this treatment was a response to a growing drug problem in the late 1990s.

'No problem'

Portugal had developed a reputation as a gateway for drug trafficking, with more than three quarters of drugs seized destined for other European countries.

By 1999, it had the highest rate of drug-related Aids cases in the EU and there was a growing perception that the criminalisation of drug use was increasingly part of the problem.

So in 2001, the socialist government changed the law to turn possession of drugs into an "administrative offence", sending those caught with drugs for personal use to a "dissuasion board" rather than face prosecution.

At one of these hearings was a 32-year-old man who had been caught in possession of hashish.

Paulo showed no regret as he explained his case to a social worker and psychologist, saying: "I don't feel I have a problem with drugs, so I don't feel I need to be here".

As this was his first appearance before the board he was just given a warning. If he is caught again, sanctions will be applied.

But far more drug users are taking up treatment as a result of the change in law, an independent study by Dr Alex Stevens from the University of Kent found.

It said the overall numbers of drug users in treatment expanded in Portugal from 23,654 to 38,532 between 1998 and 2008. While between 2000 and 2008 the number of case of HIV reduced among drug users from 907 to 267.

"This is a highly significant trend which as been attributed primarily to the expansion of harm reduction services," it concluded.

Radical change

The advisor of the management board of the Instituto of Drugs in Portugal, Dr Fatima Trigeiros, said its partners had feared decriminalisation would make people flock to Portugal to take drugs, but that did not happen.

"Before the law changed people with drug consumption would fear to come into the treatment structures because they were afraid they would be taken to court," she said.

We have a government that on paper at last is a dream ticket for actually putting in place substantive reforms”

"Also we were not tackling first-time users, those who were experimenting, because the time between being caught and the time they were taken to court was too long. Now they are being taken to the dissuasion boards in 72 hours."

Would the British government ever entertain such a radical change? The Home Office says decriminalisation is not the answer; instead it wants to reduce drug use and drug-related crime and help addicts kick their habit.

But there is evidence the prime minister thought differently when he was in opposition. Eight years ago, David Cameron wrote in the Daily Telegraph, that "politicians need to get up from behind their barricades and look at what works, rather than what sounds good".

He called for a declassification of some drugs so cannabis would move from class B to class C and ecstasy from A to B, even allowing some severe heroin users access to injecting rooms.

As a backbench MP, Mr Cameron called on the government to raise a debate at the United Nations on legalisation and regulation. It was the clearest indication ever given by a future British prime minister of a desire to rethink drugs policy.

The charitable think tank "Transform", which is lobbying for a change in the law, is hoping the prime minister's past views will prevail.

Its head of external affairs, Danny Kushlick said: "We have a government that on paper at last is a dream ticket for actually putting in place substantive reforms that are going to shift resources from criminal justice and towards public health."

With difficult public sector cuts looming, drug reform may not be the first priority of the British government, but it is now consulting on the UK Drugs Strategy.

Reformers say if they want to reduce spending on drugs they could do worse than to look to Portugal.

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InvisibleSociety
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Registered: 07/03/04
Posts: 14,307
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Re: Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws? [Re: veggie]
    #13291550 - 10/04/10 11:51 PM (13 years, 7 months ago)

Quote:

The Home Office says decriminalisation is not the answer; instead it wants to reduce drug use and drug-related crime and help addicts kick their habit.




LOL


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Offlineauronlives69
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Registered: 04/19/09
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Re: Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws? [Re: veggie]
    #13291717 - 10/05/10 12:40 AM (13 years, 7 months ago)

~I don't feel I have a problem with drugs, so I don't feel I need to be here~ yup i bet theres a lot of that going around, so what if you get busted for smoking a j you have to go into rehabilitation too?

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Invisiblem00nshine
ÜBER SHAMAN
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Registered: 11/18/05
Posts: 9,774
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Re: Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws? [Re: auronlives69]
    #13292171 - 10/05/10 06:04 AM (13 years, 7 months ago)

Better than jail, right? When I was in the azores the locals told me that if they find you with hash they would take you to the station, try to find out who gave you the shit, then would let you go or send you to treatment. Overall the cops didn't care IME. I smoked a hash cig and passed a couple cops, I shit myself but all was well. All I got from them was a smile, haha.


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InvisibleGerman Kahuna
Facepalmer of Stoopid
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Registered: 10/31/08
Posts: 15,798
Loc: On a Chemical Vacation
Re: Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws? [Re: m00nshine]
    #13292208 - 10/05/10 06:34 AM (13 years, 7 months ago)

At least cannabis has been de facto decriminalized here in Germany as well. People smoke out in the open all the time. Also when I am caught with a bag of dried shrooms (up to about 100g) I can claim it's for my own personal consumption and charges will be dropped. None of that "manufacturing a schedule 1 drug with intent to distribute mandatory minimum of xx years in prison" BS.

Another great thing is that hardcore long term heroin addicts here are now supplied with clean heroin in injection centers with medical personnel present at all times. And guess what, the public medical insurances pay. It's a federal law. They know it's better, more humane and a lot cheaper than locking them up, having them steal and prostitute themselves, which in the long run causes a lot more costs to society.

Of course drugs aren't legal yet and dealers will be busted, but it seems that the administration really is starting to come to their senses with regards to how to deal with the fact that there is drug use now, always has been and always will be.


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"Vegetarian" [ /ˌvedʒəˈteəriən/] - Ancient slang meaning "village idiot who can't hunt, fish or ride".

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Invisibleawakendone
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Registered: 08/05/10
Posts: 824
Re: Can lessons be learned from Portugal's drug laws? [Re: veggie]
    #13292249 - 10/05/10 07:04 AM (13 years, 7 months ago)

"and now I am drug-free again and I am well. When I feel ok I will stop methadone"

:facepalm3:

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