Just over a decade ago, Portugal legalized the possession of all drugs within its borders. Not just marijuana - all of them. The result? According to attorney Glenn Greenwald in an interview with Time: "“Judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country." What does Greenwald know, you might ask? Well he is the one who conducted research and authored a 2009 Cato study in regard to the impact that decriminalization had between 2001 and the time the study was written, the period over which the frequency of drug use and associated problems declined dramatically in Portugal.

Of course, this and many other stories out of Portugal have taken a back seat to the country's economic problems. However, we should not assume that the two stories are related in that the legalized possession was in some way responsible for the economic decline in Portugal. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The changes in Portugal's approach led to lower rates of addiction across all drugs, saved the huge expenses associated with imprisoning drug users and instead directed them toward less expensive treatment and prevention programs that problematic users also became more apt to take part in.

If North American and other Western governments were to do similar and also devise strategies for regulating and monitoring distributors (similar to what we do for alcohol), it would also generate a great deal of public revenues for use across all kinds of social programs, even those unrelated (at least directly) to drug use.

Furthermore, we could direct our attention away from an unnecessary "war on drugs" that will never be won (at least by the side favouring abstinence and prohibition) and direct our focus on things that are more important, like democratic and electoral reforms that might help us steer away from such ridiculous policies in the future. Perhaps we could even get rid of the constitutionally invalid laws that are on the books - such as "hate crime" legislation.


Some additional thoughts...

If we're worried about impaired operation of motor vehicles and the like - I'm sure that some sort of effective roadside testing could be developed and put into place. I've been a type 1 diabetic for all but 4 years of my life. In that time (going on 35 years) there have been advances in technology that now allow me to test how much glucose is in my blood at the surface capilliaries almost anywhere on my body - in 5 seconds and using a pocket-sized device, no less. If more attention were directed toward the development of such a test for marijuana when behind the wheel, as a result of sales being all but ensured, I'm sure we would see the meters forthwith.

Legalization would not prevent employers from testing for or prohibiting drug use in the workplace or on job sites that might require one's "full attention" for safety reasons and the like.

I am always dismayed when I hear politicians and other community leaders state that drug trafficking is a means of support for terrorist causes. While the "war on terror" is another useless cause, that is a whole other topic. My question for those who use the "supporting terrorists" argument to encourage the current prohibition laws is: "Why would we expect anything else? Since when have terrorists or other crime organizations preferred traceable monies to fund their causes?" At least legalization and regulation would create a paper trail that could be followed.



Also, if anyone wanted more information about the results of the Portugese legalization, here are a few links:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/151635/ten_years_ago_portugal_legalized_all_drugs_--_what_happened_next

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13784156/Drug-Decriminalization-in-Portugal-Lessons-for-Creating-Fair-and-Successful-Drug-Policies-Cato-White-Paper