Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? By Maia Szalavitz Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009 TIME SCIENCE Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It’s not the Netherlands.) Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze–filled “coffee shops,” Holland has never actually legalized cannabis — the Dutch simply don’t enforce their laws against the shops. The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal’s drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal’s new regime, people found guilty…
Drugs and crime
Elizabeth Krantz One of the greatest threats to the quality of life and social stability in Western nations is the lawlessness and corruption caused by the prohibition of certain drugs. The prohibition, as in the US alcohol prohibition experience, has created a criminal class of armed, vicious thugs and their hordes of enforcers, traffickers, crooked lawyers, accountants, politicians and police, that threaten the very foundations of our democratic society. Many people have an illogical attitude to the issue of drugs. They accept with equanimity the incessant TV advertising of alcohol and the enormous consequential damage related to the abuse of this legal drug, but react in horror at the thought of easing prohibition on other drugs, even though such action would drastically reduce crime in the community. I am not about promoting the benefits of legal or illegal drugs or even minimising the harmful effects of such drugs. Rather I…