How To Decriminalize Drugs In Portugal

Words: 537
Pages: 3
Open Document
As of 2001 the drug policy in Portugal decriminalized all drugs but providing an alternate method to deal with drugs. Portugal's policy states, “no criminal penalties exist for the use or possession of drugs for personal use--defined as a ten-day supply” (Abadinsky 2014:327). Furthermore, the new method of “harm reduction” would focus on treatment and prevention and not criminalizing and jailing people for drug possession. For example, a heroin addict would be able to receive and consume his/her drug and be free of judgement but also be informed of treatment plans available to them, when they want to stop. However, this new policy does not legalize the importation, production or distribution of drugs. Any drug trafficking is a criminal offense and punishable by the laws in Portugal. …show more content…
For instance, panel members, Theodore Dalrymple and Nigel Keegan, revealed the statistic surrounding drug use and crime were misleading and that it has not decreased but increased. Nigel Keegan stated, that crime rate has increased by 17% and murder rate by 40%, since the policy went into effect in 2001. However, this might be true neither of them were able to confirm this increase was due to the new drug policy. In fact, the Theodore Dalrymple mentioned that between 50-200 inmates committed criminal offenses prior to addiction. This led me to believe that the increase in crime was not just due to decriminalization but other unknown factors. Another issue Ian Blair spoke on was that by decriminalizing drugs Portugal made it easy for a dealer to profit without taxation. However, I disagree with his comment because once these dealers get caught they will be
Show More

Related Documents: How To Decriminalize Drugs In Portugal

Essay on DrugAddiction Research Group Project

such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Colombia, and Argentina have treated people struggling with drug addiction as individuals in need of help, rather than criminals in need of legal punishment. By abiding by the policy that decriminalizes drug use, these nations have yet to experience dramatically high increases in crime rates related to drugs whether it pertains to drug consumption, distribution, or any form of harm related to drugs. In fact, in an article from the Los Angeles Times “Drugs the Dutch…

Words 1015 - Pages 5

Drug Addiction in Portugal Essay

Drug Addiction, use and the Legal System. Drug addiction and use is a global epidemic that’s having immense negative effects on societies all across the globe, and the solution doesn’t seem to be a uniform choice with many ideologies prevalent in todays globalized world. Many people today would say there is a drug ‘culture’ developing within our cultures, a lot of which is due to anti-drug propaganda and fear-mongering techniques used to by governments to perpetuate the dangers and ill effects…

Words 3812 - Pages 16