International panel urges Stephen Harper to reconsider Canad
Newsbot @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:29 pm
Title: International panel urges Stephen Harper to reconsider Canadian pot prohibition
Category: Political
Posted By: Curtman
Date: 2012-02-29 16:17:53
Canadian
Curtman @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 5:29 pm
Good to see another group out there spreading the message that the war on drugs is a failure. This one founded by Richard Branson. Richard's blog about Portugals success is a good read for any prohibitionists who might still admit to being one in public.
Time to end the war on drugs
$1:
Visited Portugal, as one of the Global Drug Commissioners, to congratulate them on the success of their drug policies over the last 10 years.
Ten years ago the Portuguese Government responded to widespread public concern over drugs by rejecting a �war on drugs� approach and instead decriminalized drug possession and use. It further rebuffed convention by placing the responsibility for decreasing drug demand as well as managing dependency under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Justice. With this, the official response towards drug-dependent persons shifted from viewing them as criminals to treating them as patients.
Now with a decade of experience Portugal provides a valuable case study of how decriminalization coupled with evidence-based strategies can reduce drug consumption, dependence, recidivism and HIV infection and create safer communities for all.
I will set out clearly what I learned from my visit to Portugal and would urge other countries to study this:
In 2001 Portugal became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.
Jail time was replaced with offer of therapy. (The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is much more expensive than treatment).
Under Portugal�s new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker, and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.
Critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to �drug tourists� and exacerbate Portugal�s drug problem; the country has some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. The recently realised results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April 2011, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.
Compared to the European Union and the US, Portugal drug use numbers are impressive.
Following decriminalization, Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%, Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%. Drug use in older teens also declined. Life time heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%.
New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003.
Death related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half.
The number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and the considerable money saved on enforcement allowed for increase funding of drug � free treatment as well.
Property theft has dropped dramatically (50% - 80% of all property theft worldwide is caused by drug users).
America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the EU (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the US, it also has less drug use.
Current policy debate is that it�s based on �speculation and fear mongering�, rather than empirical evidence on the effect of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country�s number one public health problem.
Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use.
Portugal�s 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users � not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use � not criminal retribution.By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
Ten years ago the Portuguese Government responded to widespread public concern over drugs by rejecting a �war on drugs� approach and instead decriminalized drug possession and use. It further rebuffed convention by placing the responsibility for decreasing drug demand as well as managing dependency under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Justice. With this, the official response towards drug-dependent persons shifted from viewing them as criminals to treating them as patients.
Now with a decade of experience Portugal provides a valuable case study of how decriminalization coupled with evidence-based strategies can reduce drug consumption, dependence, recidivism and HIV infection and create safer communities for all.
I will set out clearly what I learned from my visit to Portugal and would urge other countries to study this:
In 2001 Portugal became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.
Jail time was replaced with offer of therapy. (The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is much more expensive than treatment).
Under Portugal�s new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker, and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.
Critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to �drug tourists� and exacerbate Portugal�s drug problem; the country has some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. The recently realised results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April 2011, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.
Compared to the European Union and the US, Portugal drug use numbers are impressive.
Following decriminalization, Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%, Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%. Drug use in older teens also declined. Life time heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%.
New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003.
Death related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half.
The number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and the considerable money saved on enforcement allowed for increase funding of drug � free treatment as well.
Property theft has dropped dramatically (50% - 80% of all property theft worldwide is caused by drug users).
America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the EU (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the US, it also has less drug use.
Current policy debate is that it�s based on �speculation and fear mongering�, rather than empirical evidence on the effect of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country�s number one public health problem.
Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use.
Portugal�s 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users � not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use � not criminal retribution.By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
CDN_PATRIOT @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 6:58 pm
Canada isn't the Netherlands. Drugs are illegal for a reason, and there's no need to have a silly debate on this anymore.
-J.
Curtman @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:17 pm
CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:
Canada isn't the Netherlands. Drugs are illegal for a reason, and there's no need to have a silly debate on this anymore.
Sure there's need, or you wouldn't see group after group releasing statements about how prohibition causes crime. Might I ask what you think the reason is? Specifically marijuana, since its debatable whether it causes any significant harm to anybody except through the prohibition created black market.
Lemmy @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:27 pm
CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:
Canada isn't the Netherlands. Drugs are illegal for a reason, and there's no need to have a silly debate on this anymore.
It's more complicated than that, Jason. All laws, just or other, were passed for a reason. There's more to consider than whether a law serves a purpose before we decide to pass it or keep it. When the Supreme Court examines a law, they use the Oakes Test. They ask themselves 3 questions: 1. Does the law achieve an important government objective?; 2. Does the law interfere with peoples' rights as little as possible?; 3. Does the law create a problem worse than the problem it was supposed to solve?
Even if you believe that prohibiting marijuana achieves an important government aim ("illegal for a reason", you said) that's only one third of the criteria. On question 2, I think the law fails because giving someone a criminal record, potentially putting them in prison, for smoking a joint is a serious interference on their rights. On question 3, the law fails for two reasons: first, the same reason as it failed question two. Punishments are disproportionate to the harm caused. But more importantly, the organized crime that's generated by prohibition laws is a WAY worse for society than any harm pot smokers may cause.
Eventually marijuana prohibition will end in Canada. We're already well on the path to that end. It's already PRACTICALLY legal in many ways. But eventually the government and the Supreme Court are going to apply the Oakes test to this question and what is practically legal will finally be legally legal. The debate is certainly well under way and given the harm this law has caused us, I don't consider it a silly debate in any way.
jeff744 @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:35 pm
CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:
Canada isn't the Netherlands. Drugs are illegal for a reason, and there's no need to have a silly debate on this anymore.
-J.
-J.
It was once illegal to get a divorce, it was once illegal for women to drive, it was once illegal to practice sodomy. The people that defended these laws always said they existed for a reason but we don't have them anymore and I have yet to see the world explode.
CDN_PATRIOT @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:36 pm
Well said Lemmy, well said.
You make a very good point, and I do agree that the punishments handed out for a joint are ridiculous. Perhaps we should legalize it, and have the police and law enforcement as a whole deal with greater problems.
-J.
Lemmy @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:37 pm
CDN_PATRIOT CDN_PATRIOT:
Well said Lemmy, well said.
See, marijuana has its benefits.
eureka @ Wed Feb 29, 2012 9:58 pm
I had not thought of it that way, Lemmy, and you express it as well as I have ever seen the argument.
I have never touched drugs even innocuous ones like mj and have until not too long ago always argued against their use and legalization. I still think that they are not entirely harmless (mj, that is) but I no longer think that athe negatives outweigh the positives.
PublicAnimalNo9 @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:55 am
Of course pot isn't entirely harmless. Like anything else, abusing it can be harmful to one's health.
But responsible tokers, like responsible drinkers, are at about the same health risk. Very low.
One thing I can honestly say in a direct comparison between weed and booze. I've done WAY more stupid shit, broke more bones, had more than a few "lost" nights on alcohol in any given 30 day stretch than I ever have on weed.
I have never tried to ride my dirtbike up a playground slide while high on weed. I've never set myself on fire as a practical joke while high on weed. Never been in a fight while high.
You know what sounds like a great idea when yer high on weed? BURGER KING!!
You know what sounds like a great idea when yer drunk? EVERYTHING!! And the dumber and more likely to cause oneself an injury, the better!! 
OnTheIce @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:22 am
Curtman Curtman:
Good to see another group out there spreading the message that the war on drugs is a failure. This one founded by Richard Branson. Richard's blog about Portugals success is a good read for any prohibitionists who might still admit to being one in public.
Time to end the war on drugs
Time to end the war on drugs
$1:
Visited Portugal, as one of the Global Drug Commissioners, to congratulate them on the success of their drug policies over the last 10 years.
Ten years ago the Portuguese Government responded to widespread public concern over drugs by rejecting a �war on drugs� approach and instead decriminalized drug possession and use. It further rebuffed convention by placing the responsibility for decreasing drug demand as well as managing dependency under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Justice. With this, the official response towards drug-dependent persons shifted from viewing them as criminals to treating them as patients.
Now with a decade of experience Portugal provides a valuable case study of how decriminalization coupled with evidence-based strategies can reduce drug consumption, dependence, recidivism and HIV infection and create safer communities for all.
I will set out clearly what I learned from my visit to Portugal and would urge other countries to study this:
In 2001 Portugal became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.
Jail time was replaced with offer of therapy. (The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is much more expensive than treatment).
Under Portugal�s new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker, and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.
Critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to �drug tourists� and exacerbate Portugal�s drug problem; the country has some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. The recently realised results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April 2011, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.
Compared to the European Union and the US, Portugal drug use numbers are impressive.
Following decriminalization, Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%, Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%. Drug use in older teens also declined. Life time heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%.
New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003.
Death related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half.
The number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and the considerable money saved on enforcement allowed for increase funding of drug � free treatment as well.
Property theft has dropped dramatically (50% - 80% of all property theft worldwide is caused by drug users).
America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the EU (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the US, it also has less drug use.
Current policy debate is that it�s based on �speculation and fear mongering�, rather than empirical evidence on the effect of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country�s number one public health problem.
Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use.
Portugal�s 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users � not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use � not criminal retribution.By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
Ten years ago the Portuguese Government responded to widespread public concern over drugs by rejecting a �war on drugs� approach and instead decriminalized drug possession and use. It further rebuffed convention by placing the responsibility for decreasing drug demand as well as managing dependency under the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Justice. With this, the official response towards drug-dependent persons shifted from viewing them as criminals to treating them as patients.
Now with a decade of experience Portugal provides a valuable case study of how decriminalization coupled with evidence-based strategies can reduce drug consumption, dependence, recidivism and HIV infection and create safer communities for all.
I will set out clearly what I learned from my visit to Portugal and would urge other countries to study this:
In 2001 Portugal became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.
Jail time was replaced with offer of therapy. (The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is much more expensive than treatment).
Under Portugal�s new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker, and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.
Critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to �drug tourists� and exacerbate Portugal�s drug problem; the country has some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. The recently realised results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April 2011, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.
Compared to the European Union and the US, Portugal drug use numbers are impressive.
Following decriminalization, Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%, Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%. Drug use in older teens also declined. Life time heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%.
New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003.
Death related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half.
The number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and the considerable money saved on enforcement allowed for increase funding of drug � free treatment as well.
Property theft has dropped dramatically (50% - 80% of all property theft worldwide is caused by drug users).
America has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world, and while most of the EU (including Holland) has more liberal drug laws than the US, it also has less drug use.
Current policy debate is that it�s based on �speculation and fear mongering�, rather than empirical evidence on the effect of more lenient drug policies. In Portugal, the effect was to neutralize what had become the country�s number one public health problem.
Decriminalization does not result in increased drug use.
Portugal�s 10 year experiment shows clearly that enough is enough. It is time to end the war on drugs worldwide. We must stop criminalising drug users. Health and treatment should be offered to drug users � not prison. Bad drugs policies affect literally hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities across the world. We need to provide medical help to those that have problematic use � not criminal retribution.By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
I'm glad people like you are able to keep your priorities straight considering everything going on in the World today.
Lemmy @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:31 am
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
I'm glad people like you are able to keep your priorities straight considering everything going on in the World today.
Isn't reducing crime the Conservative government's top priority? If it wasn't, why was the omnibus crime bill the first major piece of legislation they sent down the pike after the election? The most effective way the government could reduce crime in this country would be to end marijuana prohibition.
Curtman @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:33 am
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
I'm glad people like you are able to keep your priorities straight considering everything going on in the World today.
Reducing crime and corruption should be on everyone's agenda.
OnTheIce @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:36 am
Lemmy Lemmy:
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
I'm glad people like you are able to keep your priorities straight considering everything going on in the World today.
Isn't reducing crime the Conservative government's top priority? If it wasn't, why was the omnibus crime bill the first major piece of legislation they sent down the pike after the election? The most effective way the government could reduce crime in this country would be to end marijuana prohibition.
It's not the top priority at all.
The bill was already on the go before the election, it just got passed after.
I don't buy the legalization reduces crime at all. There's pros and cons and many opinions on both sides of the fence.
Lemmy @ Thu Mar 01, 2012 8:44 am
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
It's not the top priority at all.
It isn't? Then why all the campaigning on that issue?
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
The bill was already on the go before the election, it just got passed after.
So my timing was off by a couple of months.
OnTheIce OnTheIce:
I don't buy the legalization reduces crime at all. There's pros and cons and many opinions on both sides of the fence.
You may not buy it, but most legal scholars do. Plus we have a MASSIVE case to study the effects: US Liquor Prohibition. There were many people who said legalizing alcohol wouldn't reduce crime. They were wrong. There's only one way to find out. Why not test it? If it doesn't improve things we can re-criminalize it.