The April 26, 2009 edition of Time magazine had an article Drugs In Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?
Portugal has changed its focus from jailing people to one of therapy.
A report five years after decriminalization claims a lower rate of drug use among Portugese youth as well as lower HIV rates. The report claims the lowest drug use among the fifteen European Union nations.
In North America Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has called for a commission simillar to Portugal’s to ponder the issue. The discussion is also alive in Canada including a recent pro pot rally in Toronto.
What about you on the front line? What is your opinion? What would be the benefits? What are the dangers? How would you implement such a plan?
I look forward to your views. Simply click on Comments, read the submissions, type your comments and submit.
Jeff
May 4, 2009 at 5:44 pm |
I am not so much concerned with the letter of the law as I am with, how have the law makers and health care providers in Portugal addressed the issue in terms of education and support? If we make it sound like just decimalizing something will make all better, then I have a problem.
I would like to know how they have re-channeled the resources. If they have taken the money out of the court system and put it into education, intervention and rehabilitation then what are we waiting for?
We have +/- 750 Courts locations in Canada – if we could shut ½ of them down and open 375 new treatment centers with much fewer staff, the extra employees could be retrained as CAAC “Child Abuse and Addiction Counsellors”.
We could then put a CAAC in every Day Care and Junior kindergarten in the country, because that is where it begins. (Most clients in addiction treatment site unresolved childhood issues and a major contributor to their problem)
I don’t see decriminalizing as a solution onto itself, but if it changes our focus and allows people to see addiction as a treatable illness rather than a criminal activity then we are on the right track.
If we can lower the instances of addiction through education and treatment the legal situation has to improve.
May 4, 2009 at 8:04 pm |
My initial reaction to decriminilization is no!
I am in agreement with the idea that we must find a better way of educating our youth regarding destructive behaviours than locking them up.
I am sure that the answer lies in area of education/prevention.
I agree that engaging with children at an early an age as possible.
For the past five years I have been doing a joint awareness presentation with the local RCMP geared towards 10 to 14 year olds. The Rcmp talk about the law and and the justice system and I talk about the negative impacts of addiction and other abuses.
The teachers and parents are very supportive but what is more rewarding is the fact that the young people engage with the writer and when seen outside the program they connect in a very positive manner.
May 4, 2009 at 11:49 pm |
I have to agree with the other writer that it is how it has been implemented that is the key. We see that drug courts are working much better and that diversion piece was an important step to keeping people from jail. The integration of support network within the court system is a better proactive approach than incarceration. I was pleased to hear today that the female population counts in all the jails is down. Do not know the reason for this yet, but the Drug Courts could definitely have an effect.
I supervise a treatment center for adjudicated first nation youth and what they require is a safe environment. Most come from homes of use and abuse so returning them to this environment is not the answer nor is separating families. Somewhere in the middle we must get more involved with children and youth to provide them with information and nurturance while providing support to the parents.
May 5, 2009 at 12:43 am |
Rosemary, perhaps we should have have an upcoming blog discussion on drug courts and why they are not used more in certain jurisdictions.
Jeff
May 11, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I agree Jeff
May 8, 2009 at 11:37 pm |
Hola desde Argentina!
I think that decriminalization is not the way to fight against adicction problems. If you don´t want to fight and you don´t consider that adicction is a hole person problem, decriminalization allows you to get sick and solve an economic public health problem.
Many times the only possibility to motivate a treatment to stop the destructive circle of adicction, becomes from the family that goes to the family court looking for help.
Crime and drugs taking are two faces of the same coin. People get´s into crime because they need money to support their drug taking.
Let´s see this problem in a complex way, that is what I consider we have to show to politicians.
Thanks Jeff for this blog.
May 10, 2009 at 7:36 pm |
Daniel, thanks for coming on from Argentina. It is my hopes that our discussions will become world wide.
Gracias
Jeff
May 9, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
I do not believe and never have believed that there was actually a war on drugs in this country. I believe that this has been propagated by our very government and is a money making machine. Without the drug addict the jails would be out of buisness, We would need about half the police force, saving that money for education and rehabilitation for those who want it.
The highest percentage of our jails are filled with individuals who are there for drug related charges.If we did something about cleaning up the mess that has been made, perhaps we can help more people who really need the help.
Alcohol is legal and we still have problems yes but can you imagine the mess we would have if it were not?
May 12, 2009 at 11:32 am |
Let me begin here by pointing out that legal substance pose a greater health risk than all illicit substances combined in this country. We have a new National Anti-Drug Strategy that favours incarceration over harm reduction (in fact, harm reduction does not exist in the newer strategy). Addiction is an issue of health care. Not Morality. What good does the war on drugs do? In the USA and here in Canada, the instances of drug use continue to rise despite the greatest efforts of the governments to stop it. Crime and drugs are so closely bound only because we have tied together. If the issue of criminality were relieved, much of the stigma would go with it, and as Denise has pointed out, there would be a great deal of resource free for use in treatment and prevention. It is clear that something needs to change,
June 2, 2009 at 10:17 pm |
For a long time I was against decriminalization, but the “war on drugs” in the US has not worked. Drug Courts are becoming more popular, but there aren’t nearly enough. In-prison treatment is way too limited, only a small percentage of prisoners have access. A change in focus is long overdue, I think early intervention and more access to treatment is more effective than criminalization as a felony, more of the funding for the criminal justice should go toward the continuum of care. It’s not easy to make such a drastic change in political thought but more recovering people need to speak up.