The U.S. drug war vs. what Portugal did about drugs, and their amazing results !

SUMMARY:

A productive economy 

will have few people 

addicted to drugs, 

few overdoses, and 

virtually no one 

high, or drunk, 

at work.

Prohibition of alcohol, 

done a long time lago, 

was supposed to 

significantly decrease 

the drinking of alcohol.

It didn't work.

Although it's hard 

to estimate, it appears 

that drinking alcohol 

at least stayed the same, 

and probably increased !

U.S. "drug wars" 

since the 1960s 

also have not worked.

In 2001, Portugal did 

what no other nation 

had even considered 

at the time: The nation 

practically decriminalized 

the consumption 

of all drugs.

That worked a lot better 

than the U.S. "drug wars"

 ( see chart below ).

DETAILS:

I recently got "addicted" 

to some reality TV shows 

where cameras follow 

policemen on duty, 

or we get to watch 

videos from police car 

cameras and body cams.

My first impression 

was how often alcohol 

made people violent,

or at least caused 

dangerous driving. 

Marijuana causes 

erratic driving too. 

And when 

a policeman 

smells it coming 

from the car, 

he is allowed 

to search the car 

for any drugs 

without a warrant. 

Or they search after

using police dogs, 

that can smell drugs

from outside the car !

Police surprisingly 

often will find 

marijuana, 

and/or 

some "meth", 

heroin, or illegal 

prescription pills.

Our drug wars 

started in 

the 1960s.

But drug addiction

has not gone away.

The U.S had a huge 

cocaine crisis in the 

early 1990s, especially

the very addictive 

crack cocaine.

Gangs got 

involved, and the 

gun murder rate 

back in 1993 

reached double 

of what is is today.

We have another 

drug crisis now -- 

opioids have killed 

more people 

than the four 

past wars 

combined 

(Vietnam, 

both Iraq wars 

and Afghanistan ).

Should U.S. 

drug laws

be tougher ?

Or perhaps 

we should 

use drug laws

to steer users 

to what we think 

is the least 

harmful drug, 

marijuana ?

That would require

legalized marijuana, 

offset by harsh penalties 

for all other mind-altering 

non prescription drugs.

THE  1990s  

PORTUGAL  

DRUG  CRISIS

Instead of wondering 

what to do about drugs, 

how about studying 

what another nation did, 

with surprising results ?

I don't know 

if the Portugal "solution" 

would apply to the US, 

but they have 18 years 

of data, which beats our

 "what if?" speculation.

During the 1990s, 

Portugal had a huge

drug crisis.

One in every 100 people

became addicted to heroin.

The rate of HIV infection 

from dirty needles 

become the highest 

in the European Union.

In 1993, 

needle exchange 

programs began.

Today all Portugal

drug users can 

exchange syringes 

at pharmacy counters, 

all across Portugal ! 

The 2001 

Portugal 

Drug Reforms:

- Using 

or possessing 

any drugs for 

personal use 

remained illegal. 

- But all criminal 

drug offenses, 

that had prison time 

as a punishment,

were changed to 

being administrative, 

if the amount of drugs 

possessed was no more 

than a ten-day supply. 

- Drug treatment 

was expanded, and

improved, with 

successful results.

PORTUGAL  RESULTS:

Drug Overdose Deaths:

1999 = 369 people

2016 =   30 people

New HIV Diagnoses

Due to Injecting

2000 = 907 people

2017 =   18 people

People in Prison

For Drug Offenses:

1999 = 3,863 people

2017 = 1,140 people