Just kidding.

Of course it doesn't...in fact, it causes exactly the opposite.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/201...lf-in-portugal/

Ten Years After Decriminalization, Drug Abuse Down by Half in Portugal

Hmmm. So the “War on Drugs” HAS been a collosal waste of money?Surprise, isn’t it? Drug warriors often contend that drug use would skyrocket if we were to legalize or decriminalize drugs in the United States. Fortunately, we have a real-world example of the actual effects of ending the violent, expensive War on Drugs and replacing it with a system of treatment for problem users and addicts.

Ten years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs. One decade after this unprecedented experiment, drug abuse is down by half:

“Health experts in Portugal said Friday that Portugal’s decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked.

“There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal,” said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

The number of addicts considered “problematic” — those who repeatedly use “hard” drugs and intravenous users — had fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people, Goulao said.

Other factors had also played their part however, Goulao, a medical doctor added.

“This development can not only be attributed to decriminalisation but to a confluence of treatment and risk reduction policies.”

Many of these innovative treatment procedures would not have emerged if addicts had continued to be arrested and locked up rather than treated by medical experts and psychologists. Currently 40,000 people in Portugal are being treated for drug abuse. This is a far cheaper, far more humane way to tackle the problem. Rather than locking up 100,000 criminals, the Portuguese are working to cure 40,000 patients and fine-tuning a whole new canon of drug treatment knowledge at the same time.

None of this is possible when waging a war.

*************

Duh.

Saving a few hundred billion bucks wouldn't hurt, either.

Fish on...

Todd

Damn..........Are you saying you want the govern to quit protecting people from themselves? Another thing we agree on. What is the world coming to.

When marijuana is outlawed only outlaws will have dope.

Yeah, but notice that the only countries that are decriminalizing drugs are in Europe, and we all know that they're socialist anyway. So it would never ever work here in the good ole US of A where we fund both sides of the drug war and keep many thousands of criminals and LEOs employed, and we sure aren't wasting any public funds on some socialistic drug treatment program! Take that, you wussy libtards!

Portugal's financial state.......

talk is that privatization is needed.

So much for social programs.........

Good one Sallmo g.
Need more wussies to vote.

That was just for you and Hank, Illy.

It makes too much sense to even give it a try here, what would all those DEA agents do?

Fishy

after reading some articles about Freeway Ricky Ross, i learned a few things about the drug trade...

1, the government IS, and HAS been involved for quite some time
Ross was involved with the CIA during the Iran Contra Scandle..

2 Opium/Heroin import, was extremely low before we went to Afghanistan, now, its exploded far beyond belief, something like 400% more now..

theres other things, but i cant remember them lol... one of the articles stated how Carter and Regan opened up the door for Ricky Ross to ship in major amounts of Cocaine from Nicaragua during the 80s... they figured that if they took one heavily black populated town (Los Angeles), and dumped the drugs into there, that 1, everyone would be happy (cartels, cops, US Government), and it would save the rest of the country... little did they know, it wasnt that easy, look at it now... at one point Rick Ross was making 2 million dollars a day, all of it was helped by the Presidents, Government, and, the CIA...

from Wiki about Rick Ross:

Ross's capture was facilitated by his career-long dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon, who "set up" Ross. Blandón had close ties with the Contras, and had met with Contra leader Enrique Bermúdez on several occasions. Blandón was the link between the CIA and Contras during the Iran-Contra affair. Gary Webb interviewed Ross several times before breaking the story in 1996. Ross claims that the reason he was unfairly tried initially was because of his involvement in the scandal. Blandón received a 24-month sentence for his drug trafficking charges, and following his release, was hired by the Drug Enforcement Administration where he was salaried at US$42,000. Blandón was not a U.S. citizen/national, and is the only known foreigner not to be deported following conviction on drug trafficking charges in U.S. history. The INS was ordered to grant Blandón a green card, despite the criminal convictions, to allow him to work for the DEA. The DEA claims that they no longer employ Blandón, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Ricky was sentenced to life in prison when he got busted... then, someone brought up the CIA and the dude that set him up... and they reduced his sentence to 20 years, and got out in 09 after being a good prisoner... they say he ammassed something like 600 million dollars in his time of dealing... some people say he was actually making more than 2 million, and as high as 3 million per day...

The CIA has been the biggest drug cartel in the world since the early '60's...I don't think it's even a secret any more, is it?

That's where the CIA gets money to do things that won't get Congressional oversight, since the money from above the board comes with strings attached.

Fish on...

Todd