Thanks for posting this! The 'diversion system' is such a great idea, it's a shame it hasn't yet been tried in North America. What the hell are we waiting for?
Portugal: Ten Years After Decriminalization
- Thread starter InvisibleEye
- Start date
Drug Reporter (Hungary)
In 2001, a small European country, Portugal, took a brave step, changing its drug policies and refocusing its efforts away from arresting and criminalising drug users, towards smart public health interventions. How did the political establishment of a Catholic-Conservative country come to such an agreement about decriminalization? How does the system work? Is it effective? Ten years after decriminalization, the HCLU film crew traveled to Lisbon and Porto to get answers to these questions – and now you can learn them from our latest movie, produced in cooperation with APDES - an NGO partner in our European Drug Policy Initiative. The film tells the story of decriminalization from various perspectives, through the eyes of people involved in its formation, implementation and evaluation.
Contrary to the expectations of the new law’s critics, drug use did not skyrocket in the years following decriminalization – actually it stabilized or declined among young people, in accordance with the patterns and trends of other European countries.
[video=youtube;KtNrsSb3-CM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtNrsSb3-CM[/video]
[hit CC below the video if you do not speak Portuguese]
What is even more important, there was a significant reduction in drug-related deaths and disease, not to mention financial and human resource savings for the law enforcement bodies. Prior to decriminalisation, Portugal was a Catholic-Conservative country with a short history of democracy, the prevalence of injecting drug use was very high, as well as the rate of new HIV transmissions.
The Portuguese experience demonstrates that decriminalisation and harm reduction programs do not only work in rich countries with well-established democracies like Holland. In addition, the Portuguese decriminalisation model did not only abolish penalties against drug users but also created a diversion system: a commission made up of three people, a doctor, a social worker and a lawyer decides if the offender should be sanctioned or not. We can now see that this model serves as an effective social filter of problematic and non-problematic drug use.
http://drogriporter.hu/en/portugal10
In 2001, a small European country, Portugal, took a brave step, changing its drug policies and refocusing its efforts away from arresting and criminalising drug users, towards smart public health interventions. How did the political establishment of a Catholic-Conservative country come to such an agreement about decriminalization? How does the system work? Is it effective? Ten years after decriminalization, the HCLU film crew traveled to Lisbon and Porto to get answers to these questions – and now you can learn them from our latest movie, produced in cooperation with APDES - an NGO partner in our European Drug Policy Initiative. The film tells the story of decriminalization from various perspectives, through the eyes of people involved in its formation, implementation and evaluation.
Contrary to the expectations of the new law’s critics, drug use did not skyrocket in the years following decriminalization – actually it stabilized or declined among young people, in accordance with the patterns and trends of other European countries.
[video=youtube;KtNrsSb3-CM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtNrsSb3-CM[/video]
[hit CC below the video if you do not speak Portuguese]
What is even more important, there was a significant reduction in drug-related deaths and disease, not to mention financial and human resource savings for the law enforcement bodies. Prior to decriminalisation, Portugal was a Catholic-Conservative country with a short history of democracy, the prevalence of injecting drug use was very high, as well as the rate of new HIV transmissions.
The Portuguese experience demonstrates that decriminalisation and harm reduction programs do not only work in rich countries with well-established democracies like Holland. In addition, the Portuguese decriminalisation model did not only abolish penalties against drug users but also created a diversion system: a commission made up of three people, a doctor, a social worker and a lawyer decides if the offender should be sanctioned or not. We can now see that this model serves as an effective social filter of problematic and non-problematic drug use.
http://drogriporter.hu/en/portugal10
^ pretty much.
I have not yet been to Portugal, but have heard very progressive things, like their open air markets included.
I have not yet been to Portugal, but have heard very progressive things, like their open air markets included.
I certainly wish that more of the world's thick-headed politicians and moralists would read this and take it to heart.
Interestingly the Dutch policy is now under pressure, partly orchestrated by neighbouring countries.
There has already been a marked rise in street dealing in several of the towns that have made the coffee shops inaccessible to foreigners.
Interestingly the Dutch policy is now under pressure, partly orchestrated by neighbouring countries.
There has already been a marked rise in street dealing in several of the towns that have made the coffee shops inaccessible to foreigners.
All the things that society and the goverment want out of drugs, such as lowering drug use, disease, crime, violence, death, overdoses etc. Actually happen when you decriminalise! Its when you keep them illegal that these problems exasperate. Its better not to criminalise people for using or possessing drugs and instead focusing on helping the small minority that will inevitably become addicts or get sick. Much like what is done with alcohol and alcoholics.
I think i'm going to visit Portugal. They've been way ahead of the game in terms of treating addicts. A bluelighter posted pics of their open air markets and it's like an actual market, very cool. Not sure how it would be for a tourist though.
52 page PDF with specifics: definitely a good read: http://www.opensocietyfoundations.o.../drug-policy-in-portugal-english-20120814.pdf
Had been waiting a long time for that.
The language is so close to Spanish that you can practically communicate with them already. I barely needed the subtitles when watching that video.
Had been waiting a long time for that.
RobotRipping;11144997 said:
The language is so close to Spanish that you can practically communicate with them already. I barely needed the subtitles when watching that video.
^ It's funny you say that. I'm of Portuguese descent. Usually the Portuguese understand Spanish very well, but it's more difficult the other way around...
LOve the video...Great article link 23536 Thank you for that. I followed up, The Czech Republic is not far behind!
InvisibleEye;11145380 said:
^^...my Dad is full blooded Portuguese (came to the USA in 1969), and I also find this to be the case when attempting to communicate with someone who knows only Spanish...
23536;11145326 said:
Very interesting.
Did you see the maximum amount per 10 days of various drugs (page 51 of the report)?
0.1 grams of LSD per 10 days seems like a lot. Isn't that 100,000 micrograms?
So you could use 10,000 mics - that is like 100 hits of acid - every day.
I think that might be enough for me %)
But only 1 gram of heroin per 10 days, which would let you smoke it 4 times a day (@25 mg each, the high end listed for a dose of smoked heroin on Erowid). It would be a lot for most people, but maybe not for everyone. Proportionally, it seems like a lot less than LSD. I guess that, if you ran out, you could use the 10 grams of opium and the 2 grams of morphine you are allotted
And only 5 grams of hash per 10 days!? Many people could go through that much. I wonder if you are allowed the 25 grams of weed plus the hash, plus the 2.5 grams of oil/extract?
Funny, I didn't see maximum amounts for tobacco, caffeine, or alcohol listed
I think its time the U.S. Gives this a try...
slimvictor;11147810 said:
I like being able to buy 3.5g + of wax at a time out here. I wouldn't want to be limited to any small amount of wax.
not to mention the cheap slave like labour they profit from, what a fucked up system.
augustaB;11143729 said:
*true
Haha posting and I don't give a fuck about yesterday.
Whiteboys suck