What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs?

What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs? – “The government in Portugal has no plans to back down. Although the Netherlands is the European country most associated with liberal drug laws, it has already been ten years since Portugal became the first European nation to take the brave step of decriminalizing possession of all drugs within its borders—from marijuana to heroin, and everything in between. This controversial move went into effect in June of 2001, in response to the country’s spiraling HIV/AIDS statistics. While many critics in the poor and largely conservative country attacked the sea change in drug policy, fearing it would lead to drug tourism while simultaneously worsening the country’s already shockingly high rate of hard drug use, a report published in 2009 by the Cato Institute tells a different story. Glenn Greenwald, the attorney and author who conducted the research, told Time: “Judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country.” Read more: www.alternet.org Cenk Uygur discusses the study and what we can learn from it. Support The Young Turks by Subscribing bit.ly Like Us on Facebook: www.fb.com Follow Us on Twitter: twitter.com Find out how to watch The Young Turks on Current by clicking here: www.current.com

Man sentenced for providing lethal synthetic drugs

Filed under: drug addiction help now

Sweeney admitted buying two hallucinogens on June 10 from Adam Budge, now 19, in East Grand Forks and then providing the drugs to Bjerk and C.J., the 15-year-old, in an apartment in northwest Grand Forks. Bjerk drove him to … Several, including …
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