Portugal

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.thefix.com/content/decrim-nation-portugal-ten-years-later

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."

For those looking for clues about how the U.S. government can tackle its domestic drug problem, the figures are enticing. Following decriminalization,

Portugal eventually found itself with the lowest rates of marijuana usage in people over 15 in the EU:

about 10%.

Compare this to the 40% of people over 12 who regularly smoke pot in the U.S., a country with some of the most punitive drugs laws in the developed world.

Drug use of all kinds has declined in Portugal:

Lifetime use among seventh to ninth graders fell from 14.01% to 10.6%.

Lifetime heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%.

And what about those horrific HIV infection rates that prompted the move in the first place? HIV infection rates among drug users fell by an incredible 17%, while drug related deaths were reduced by more than half.

"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, at a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/hardly-anyone-dies-from-drug-overdoses-in-decriminalised-por...

The Transform Drug Policy Institute concedes in its analysis of Portugal’s laws, according to the Independent, the policy has had a positive effect.

“The reality is that Portugal’s drug situation has improved significantly in key areas,” it says.

“Most notably, HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use feared by some has failed to materialise.”

These statistics collected over the past 15 years are of particular interest in the US and even Australia, where issues like marijuana legalisation and decriminalisation are hot

“If you listen to what a lot of the police are saying right around Australia, we’re never going to arrest our way out of our drug problem.

“What’s going on in Portugal is an example of if we try another way, it has positive impacts.”

Mr Rogerson said the challenge for Australia is to change the thinking around drugs from judging users so harshly for doing something illegal, to think about how that use actually affects the community.

“We need to try some different approaches to dealing with them and Australia needs to look at all the options,” he said.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/hardly-anyone-dies-from-drug-overdoses-in-decriminalised-por...

FOURTEEN years ago Portugal was home to more than 100,000 drug addicts and lost around 400 of those to overdoses annually.

Its prison system was bloated with drug offenders doing time for possessing and distributing heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances, and its hospitals were bursting with an average of 1400 HIV sufferers, their infections caused by dirty needles.

Since 2001, those numbers have all dropped dramatically thanks to one small change.

In fact, since that year, you won’t have found a single offender behind bars for drug use in Portugal.

It’s not because the drug users all learnt their lessons and had a sudden change of heart, but because the use and possession of drugs is no longer criminal.

While it’s still illegal to carry or use marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other similar substances, none of those offences will earn you jail time or a criminal record but rather a small fine or rehab since the government introduced decriminalisation in 2001 with astonishing results.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/almost-addicted/201502/will-legalizing-marijuana-increase-its-u...

Think about it this way:

those who take pain medications around the clock for legitimate health reasons are not addicted, even if they are physiologically dependent on those drugs.

Unless someone is physically dependent on a drug and it is also causing problems in that person’s life, they don’t meet the clinical definition of addiction.

If the drug dominates their daily existence, causes them to engage in dangerous behaviors in order to procure the drug, or they’re spiraling out of control, then they definitely have a problem and might well be addicted.

The best estimates are that 9% of marijuana users are dependent.

That is less than the number of users of tobacco (32%) or alcohol (approximately 10-15%) who become dependent on those substances.

The younger someone is when they use marijuana for the first time, the more likely they are to become addicted to it later in life.

So those who started using marijuana in adolescence are much more likely to become addicted to marijuana than others and to experience withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop.

They are also more likely experience depression and anxiety. This is because our brains continue to develop into our mid- to late-20s.

So what, if anything, does all of this mean for legalization? Does the fact that cannabis is increasingly legal mean that addiction rates are going to spike and related issues – such as lower IQs and higher rates of marijuana addiction – are also going to jump?

I believe the answer is no.

Despite these legitimate concerns, thus far there are no compelling data to suggest that drug use has increased in Colorado where recreational cannabis is currently legal.

Even though it’s only recently that Colorado legalized marijuana, I don’t expect this to change going forward.

A large study found that rates of cannabis use among teenagers in states that legalized medical marijuana did not increase.

And since Colorado fully legalized cannabis in 2013, the early reports show that rates of cannabis consumption among teens have continued to decline, which is part of a nation-wide trend.

Additionally, we have an example of a country where drugs were decriminalized over a decade ago.

Portugal decriminalized drug use in 2001.

Drug users are not punished for their offense when found to possess drugs, but instead are offered access to treatment and rehab.

The result: a decade later, drug abuse was cut in half in Portugal. Specifically among Portuguese teens in grades 10 through 12, lifetime prevalence rates of marijuana use decreased from 26% in 2001 to 19% in 2006.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/losing-marijuana-business-mexican-cartels-pu

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America’s marijuana decriminalization trend is upending the North American narcotics trade.

The amount of cannabis seized by U.S. federal, state and local officers along the boundary with Mexico has fallen 37 percent since 2011, a period during which American marijuana consumers have increasingly turned to the more potent, higher-grade domestic varieties cultivated under legal and quasi-legal protections in more than two dozen U.S. states.

“The days of the large-scale U.S. meth labs are pretty much gone, given how much the Mexicans have taken over production south of the border and distribution into the United States,” said Lawrence Payne, a DEA spokesman.

“Their product is far superior, cheaper and more pure.”

Last year, 15,803 kilograms of the drug was seized along the border, up from 3,076 kilos in 2009.

“Criminal organizations are no longer going for bulk marijuana,” said Sidney Aki, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection port director here at the agency’s busiest crossing for pedestrians and passenger vehicles, just south of San Diego.

“Hard drugs are the growing trend, and they’re profitable in small amounts.”

http://time.com/3801889/us-legalization-marijuana-trade/

Analysts are still trying to work out the long-term effect this shift will have on Mexican cartel finances and violence.

The legal marijuana industry could be the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy.

It grew 74% in 2014 to $2.7 billion, according to the ArcView group, a cannabis investment and research firm.

This includes revenue from both recreational drug stores and from medical marijuana, which has been legalized in 23 states.

The group predicts the industry will top $4 billion by 2016.

This means less cash for Mexican cartels to buy guns, bribe police and pay assassins. Coinciding with legalization, violence has decreased in Mexico. Homicides hit a high in 2011, with Mexican police departments reporting almost 23,000 murders.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Welll....do you know what my "research" tells me?

The common denominator in both these 'fairy' stories is Money....profit...... the almighty dollar.

Take the money and recipe/potency variance out of illicit drugs by bringing them under government control......

What profit is left then for the black market???

Prohibition will never work and the black marketeers know it.

Prohibition feathers their nests it's as simple as that.

Tonnes of Ice can be mixed in days using legally imported ingredients in the floor space required for just one large hydro set up yet the police would have us believe that rather than do that they import Ice already "mixed" **bleep**

By decriminalizing society gains control instead of leaving control and profit in the black markets hands.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victoria-police-estimate-hydro-a-15-billion-drug-industry-20150226...

Consider the following – the average grow house produces around 100 plants every 12 weeks. At $3000 a mature plant, this equates to $250,000 a quarter or $1 million a year.

And police now admit they have massively underestimated the size of the hydroponic industry with intelligence suggesting there may be as many as 1500 crop houses operating in Victoria producing $1.5 billion for the national market.

Research shows Australia has one of the highest per capita consumption of cannabis in the world – a fact recognised by international crime syndicates keen to capitalise on consumer demand.

Detectives know much of the money is reinvested in higher risk but greater reward illicit products such as heroin and ice, which is smuggled from Asia by a small army of couriers.

And this is no whiteboard speculation. Late last year police began an investigation into a heroin trafficking syndicate.