Reply #146: Portugal did not legalize drug use. It is still illegal

[FedUpWithIt All]

They simply decriminalized it. You do not go to jail, you get mandatory treatment when found with illegal substances. I support this model.

In the Netherlands, there is a tolerance program and certain agencies are allowed to sell marijuana. Possession is still illegal. Due to purchase restrictions, much of the drug is still sought from illegal sources. The use of heavier drugs also increased early on during the time the legalization of cannabis but later stabilized only when more harm reduction policies were implemented.

As for needle park...

“The strange scene has been a fixture in Zurich for several years, tolerated by city officials who are convinced that drug use should be regarded as a sickness rather than a crime. Social and medical workers estimate that about 300 to 400 heavy drug users live in the park without shelter, toilets or showers, and that as many as 3,000 others pass through daily to buy and use drugs………..the midway of the grotesque carnival is a concrete path along the edge of the Limmat River, lined with makeshift counters covered with neatly arranged spoons, bottles of water and paper cups bristling with slender, disposable syringes. The crowd thickens as night falls and drug hustlers work their way through the sea of bodies clogging the path, calling out ''Sugar, sugar, fine sugar!'' when they mean heroin, and ''Cokay, cokay!'' for cocaine……..the other night, three men crouched under a park lamppost, dividing a white powdery pancake of heroin with a Swiss Army knife. Next to them, a woman lay in the dirt in a stupor. Four or five men were intensely working needles into their arms. A woman in a striped sweater probed for veins in one hand, blood streaming down her fingers, as a woman in leather pants and stained blouse wobbled past, a bloody syringe dangling from her neck.”



http://picturesandperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/04/switzerland-platzspitz-or-needle-park.html

Edited to add, i have no dog in the marijuana legalization race. I do not oppose it and since i am not a user i am not overly concerned with the discussion.