{"id":60345,"date":"2015-06-29T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=60345"},"modified":"2017-05-28T11:48:38","modified_gmt":"2017-05-28T10:48:38","slug":"the-amazing-story-of-what-happened-when-one-tiny-country-decriminalized-all-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/06\/the-amazing-story-of-what-happened-when-one-tiny-country-decriminalized-all-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amazing Story of What Happened When One Tiny Country Decriminalized ALL Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Decriminalization has worked in Portugal, and should inspire governments around the world to do the same.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"stage1-400x266<\/a><\/p>\n

27 Jun 2015 – <\/em>Portugal is one of Europe\u2019s smallest countries, but until 2001 it had a BIG drug<\/a> problem. One in 100 Portuguese citizens were addicted to heroin, a shocking statistic that was met with brute force and a\u00a0zero tolerance policy by the country\u2019s government. The strict laws meant that anybody caught with\u00a0drugs<\/a>\u2013 regardless of the amount, what kind of drug<\/a>, and whether it was only for personal use- would be prosecuted (and often\u00a0jailed).<\/p>\n

The \u2018War on Drugs<\/a>\u2018 was a battle the government fought with passion and zeal- but no matter how many people went to prison, it just wasn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard-line approach didn\u2019t make people stop using drugs<\/a>,\u201d explains Jose Ferreria, an officer in\u00a0Lisbon\u2019s drug<\/a> squad. \u201cit\u2019s not a fight we can win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government realized this\u00a0and decided to do something that was considered extremely radical. They decriminalized everything<\/em>, allowing citizens to carry small amounts of any drugs<\/a>, including heroin<\/a>.\u00a0The idea was that casual users would be permitted to do their thing, while time, money and resources would be concentrated on helping (rather than prosecuting) addicts.<\/p>\n

Since 2001, state-sponsored outreach workers have patrolled the streets, offering users clean needles and pipes. They call this \u2018harm reduction.\u2019\u00a0Portugal now spends 90% of its drug-related resources on treatment and only 10% on policing and punishment. In the USA, it\u2019s the reverse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fear of going to prison was a huge barrier in terms of addicts coming forward and asking for help, but now they are free to do just that. As a result, heroin addiction has been cut by an incredible 50%, as one expert explained to Russell Brand here<\/a>. Drug-related deaths in general have also dropped dramatically, from 80 in 2001 to just 16 in 2012.<\/p>\n

Cesar Gaviria, the ex-President of Colombia between 1990 and 1994, is also featured in this video. He fought a bloody battle against the country\u2019s drug<\/a> cartels. As a result of this experience, Gaviria is now pro-legalization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war on drugs<\/a> really failed,\u201d Gaviria says. \u201cNo matter what you do, the drugs get to the U.S.\u201d He becomes emotional when he says: \u201cWe have suffered so much violence [in Colombia]. We have to look for a solution. We know that repression and prohibition don\u2019t work. We know<\/em> it. For certain. We have lived<\/em> that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half of the 15-minute video looks at the changing situation in the USA, and specifically Colorado<\/a>, where revenue from cannabis<\/a> reached\u00a0a massive $76m in 2014. This sum is set to rise to an estimated $94m next year, earmarked for schools and police services.<\/p>\n

Is it possible that in the future, the USA might decide to not only decriminalize cannabis<\/a>, but follow in Portugal\u2019s footsteps and choose to help- rather than prosecute- all drug users? It\u2019s likely that whatever happens in North America will cause a domino effect throughout the world, and could mean the end of the failed War on Drugs once and for all.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y7LKfLxVtzE<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 trueactivist.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Decriminalization has worked in Portugal, and should inspire governments around the world to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,242,139,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-exposures","category-justice","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}