TYT: What Happened When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs?

[The Northerner]

"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: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/151635/ten_years_ago_portugal_legalized_all_drugs_--_what_happened_next

Cenk Uygur discusses the study and what we can learn from it.

[phantom power]

1. "are we going to learn from facts?"

Do we even have to ask?

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Thanks for this.

[mdm646]

3. Drugs?

The war on drugs has very little to do with drugs. Drugs are just the enabler for an out of control prison system. Think of the cost in jobs if we quit putting people in prison for drug related "crimes." Think of the reduced requirement for taxes. You have to remember the "War on Drugs" has never been about drugs, it's about power, politics, and money.