Lessons for Creating Successful Drug Policies DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION IN PORTUGAL

On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, includ- ing cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were “decriminalized,” not “legalized.” Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohib- ited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative viola- tions and are removed completely from the crim- inal realm. Drug trafficking continues to be prosecuted as a criminal offense. While other states in the European Union have developed various forms of de facto decrim- inalization—whereby substances perceived to be less serious (such as cannabis) rarely lead to crim- inal prosecution—Portugal remains the only EU member state with a law explicitly declaring drugs to be “decriminalized.” Because more than seven years have now elapsed since enactment of Portugal’s decriminalization system, there are ample data enabling its effects to be assessed. Notably, decriminalization has become increas- ingly popular in Portugal since 2001. Except for some far-right politicians, very few domestic politi- cal factions are agitating for a repeal of the 2001 law. And while there is a widespread perception that bureaucratic changes need to be made to Portugal’s decriminalization framework to make it more effi- cient and effective, there is no real debate about whether drugs should once again be criminalized. More significantly, none of the nightmare scenarios touted by preenactment decriminalization oppo- nents—from rampant increases in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a haven for “drug tourists”—has occurred. The political consensus in favor of decriminal- ization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decrimi- nalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent crimi- nalization regimes. Although postdecriminaliza- tion usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies—such as sexu- ally transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage—have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens—enhance- ments made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization. This report will begin with an examination of the Portuguese decriminalization framework as set forth in law and in terms of how it functions in practice. Also examined is the political climate in Portugal both pre- and postdecriminalization with regard to drug policy, and the impetus that led that nation to adopt decriminalization. The report then assesses Portuguese drug poli- cy in the context of the EU’s approach to drugs. The varying legal frameworks, as well as the overall trend toward liberalization, are examined to enable a meaningful comparative assessment between Portuguese data and data from other EU states. The report also sets forth the data concerning drug-related trends in Portugal both pre- and postdecriminalization. The effects of decriminal- ization in Portugal are examined both in absolute terms and in comparisons with other states that continue to criminalize drugs, partic- ularly within the EU. The data show that, judged by virtually every metric, the Portuguese decriminalization frame- work has been a resounding success. Within this success lie self-evident lessons that should guide drug policy debates around the world.

Drug Czar Required By Law To Lie!

A fact that pretty much encapsulates the entire conservative agenda, one that cannot exist without telling lies to itself as a way of reducing the chronic fear that drives the conservative mindset. http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/

Report to Congress - Chapter 5 - Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy - Feb 1995

Report to Congress - Chapter 5 - Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy - Feb 1995

Empirical Findings on Crack and Powder Cocaine and Psychopharmacologically Driven Crime The limited evidence to date suggests that psychopharmacologically driven crime may be least important in explaining the association between crime and both crack and powder cocaine. With respect to violent crime, the 1990 Goldstein et al., Homicide Study found that only three of the 118 exclusively crack-related homicides in the study were psychopharmacological in nature, and in two of these three cases the victim precipitated the crime. The study concluded that there were another two psychopharmacologically driven homicides in which crack was involved. However, alcohol also was involved in these two cases, and overall, some 21 alcohol-only homicides were considered to be psychopharmacologically driven - considerably more than for any other drug - suggesting that alcohol may have played a significant role in these two crack-related cases. Id. at 664 (table 2), 665.

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Obama's Drug Czar Lies About Medical Marijuana

Obama's Drug Czar Lies About Medical Marijuana

'Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit,' Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County, even though his boss, President Obama, campaigned on a pledge to stop bullying medical marijuana in California. cont...

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Drug czar: Feds won't support legalized pot - Top Stories - fresnobee.com

Drug czar: Feds won't support legalized pot - Top Stories - fresnobee.com

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World Health Organization global Cocaine Project Study suppressed by the United States for 13 years, 1995 - Wikileaks (8 July 2009)

World Health Organization global Cocaine Project Study suppressed by the United States for 13 years, 1995 June 13, 2009 Summary In March 1995, the WHO and UNICRI announced the publication of the results of a global study on cocaine. Information had been collected in 22 cities and 19 countries about the use of the coca leaf and its derivatives, its effects on consumers and the community as a whole, and the answers of the governments concerned to the cocaine problem. Preparations for the research began in 1991. Over more than two years, three sub-projects were developed which "proposed to collect up-to-date information about cocaine at regional and national levels." The study was never published despite being "the largest study ever on cocaine use." Reference to the study can be found in the UNICRI (United Nations Interregional Institute of Crime Investigation) library, where it is still marked as "RESTRICTED" [1] The Director of the PSA, Hans Emblad, sent a copy of the Briefing Kit to the United Nations Drugs Control Programme (UNDCP), where it caused a sensation. Two months later, on 9 May 1995 in Commission B of the forty-eighth General Health Assembly, the destiny of these years of labour was determined by the intervention of the representative of the United States of America, Mr Boyer. He expressed his government's concern with the results of this study: "which seem to make a case for the positive uses of cocaine, claiming that use of the coca leaf did not lead to noticeable damage to mental or physical health, that the positive health effects of coca leaf chewing might be transferable from traditional settings to other countries and cultures and that coca production provides financial benefits to peasants". cont.... World Health Organization global Cocaine Project Study suppressed by the United States for 13 years, 1995 - Wikileaks (8 July 2009) http://tinyurl.com/lulhjl

RCMP Catches Itself In a Lie

‘We rarely have our facts straight early on’

Who is keeping them accountable? May 7th, 2009 · Raphael Alexander (National Post Editorial) - Just when you think nothing more scandalous could be discovered at the Braidwood Inquiry overseeing the taser-related death of 40-year-old Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport on October 14, 2007, the former commanding officer in charge of investigating the death today defended the RCMP decision to maintain erroneous information publicly for 14 months. The preliminary reports of the death have been contradicted by actual testimony during the Braidwood Inquiry, leading many people to speculate there has been an attempted RCMP cover-up. RCMP Superintendent Wayne Rideout explained that he did not correct falsified reports in the media because his “[...] belief at the time is we needed to protect the facts we were gathering”. He said that it was his decision not to release any further facts about the case, although they allowed the preliminary reports of Mr.Dziekanski being combative, resistant, and only fired upon with the taser twice to stand. “We rarely have our facts straight early on,” he explained. Well...that’s very interesting of them to say. Does that mean that if the police rarely have their facts straight early in a case, is it at all possible for the RCMP to immediately exonerate the officers involved? To decide that they had all acted “appropriately”? Of course not

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Richard Cohen Reveals His RWA Bias

January 28, 2009 6:48 PM

"And I thought, No, I'm not going to sit here passively and wait for it to happen. I wanted to go to "them," whoever "they" were, grab them by the neck, and get them before they could get us."

DHS scientists, looking into the mindset of those who use terrorism, have focused nearly all their attention on one specific group. This group is notable for the way they behave when mortality salience is present. They behave almost as though they are somehow being rushed to make their decisions, thus the shortcuts and/or following a path that may actually do more harm than good given the lack of understanding of those they are involved with. They seem to be in a chronic state of anxiety, behaving much like what one would expect from those who must try and deal with a steady, low-level fear, with the"fight or flight" response always on a hair trigger, thus the violent and aggressive actions taken over matters that did not seem worthy of the deadly force used. So which group am I talking about? Conservatives of course. Or more specifically, right wing authoritarians and the 'social dominance-oriented' they follow unquestioningly (in that "RWA-SDO embrace", as it's known) http://www.wam.umd.edu/~hannahk/conservatism.html Now it appears we have a journalist who openly admits his decisions are strongly informed by the fear and anger generated by the WTC attack. Then there's the editor, the public, and the political hacks who are at present still quite clueless over who it is that initiates, perpetuates, and promotes highly damaging reactionary responses to problems m uch more complex that they are willing to acknowledge, or perhaps be unable to even conceive. GWB's presidency played out nearly every single symptom of this debilitating societal disorder. To continue tolerating them as intellectual or emotional equals of other subgroups within the population, will be to bring about our own destruction. Their denial of Global Warming is just one example of their willingness to destroy the planet merely becaused the idea is too discomforting to the way they prefer to see their world. And as far as Cohen is concerned, the big question then is... how could he find this trait admirable enough he'd openly admit it in his column?