What if some of the 10s, perhaps 100s of billions spent annually on this nonsense "drug war" had been allocated to mandatory treatment programs? At least then, she might have had a fighting chance.
If cocaine were legal, why would we need any treatment programs? Especially mandatory ones?
but what is the sense in exposing 14-year olds to drugs anyway? Wouldn't it be far better to sell pot in convenience stores, where it could be regulated and controlled?
Regulated and controlled? Half the convenience stores in Houston are run by Pakistanis and they'll sell anything in the store to anyone who can push dollar bills across the counter. If the store won't sell beer to kids, there's usually a Mexican guy standing around who'll go in and buy it for them. Pot wouldn't be any different.
I've seen Portugal mentioned as an example before. It sounds like there's still a drug war there, albeit one with different tactics:
...
Laws and regulations In July 2001 in PORTUGAL a new law maintained the status of illegality for using or possessing any drug for personal use without authorization. The offense was changed from a criminal one, with prison a possible punishment, to an administrative one if the possessing was no more than up to ten days' supply of that substance. [1] This was in line with the de facto Portuguese drug policy before the reform. Drug addicts were then to be aggressively targeted with therapy or community service rather than fines or waivers. [7] Even if there are no criminal penalties, these changes did not legalize drug use in PORTUGAL. Possession has remained prohibited by Portuguese law, and criminal penalties are still applied to drug growers, dealers and traffickers. [8] [9]
[ edit] Regulation Individuals found in possession of small quantities of drugs are issued summons. The drugs are confiscated, and the suspect is interviewed by a “Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction” (Comissões para a Dissuasão da Toxicodependência – CDT). These commissions are made up of three people: A social worker, a psychiatrist, and an attorney. [9] [10] The dissuasion commission have powers comparable to an arbitration committee, but restricted to cases involving drug use or possession of small amounts of drugs. There is one CDT in each of Portugal’s 18 districts. Several options are available to the CDT when ruling on the drug use offence, including warnings, banning from certain places, banning from meeting certain people, obligation of periodic visits to a defined place, removal of professional licence or firearms licence. Sanctioning by fine, which may vary by drug involved, is an available option. If the person is addicted to drugs, he or she may be admitted to a drug rehabilitation facility or be given community service, if the dissuasion committee finds that this better serves the purpose of keeping the offender out of trouble. If the offender is not addicted to drugs, or unwilling to submit to treatment or community service, they may be given a fine.[1][11][12]
Law enforcement
Every year, Portuguese law enforcement bodies confiscate several tonnes of cocaine, with a record amount of more than 34.5 tonnes seized in 2006. A regular increase in quantities of cannabis resin seized could also be observed over recent years, though there has been a recent decline between 2008 (61 tonnes) and 2009 (23 tonnes).[1]
[edit] Observations There is no reliable information about drug use, injecting behaviour or addiction treatment in PORTUGAL before 2001, when general population surveys commenced. The only information about drug use before that time was the indicators on lifetime prevalence amongst youth, collected as part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD).
Thorough studies on how the various efforts have been implemented have not been conducted. Thus, a causal effect between strategy efforts and these developments cannot be firmly established.[8] There are, however, statistical indicators that suggest the following correlations between the drug strategy and the following developments, from July 2001 up to 2007:
- Increased uptake of treatment.[8]
- Reduction in HIV diagnoses amongst drug users by 17%[13]
- Reduction in drug related deaths, although this reduction has decreased in later years, and the number of drug related deaths is now almost on the same level as before the Drug strategy was implemented.[8][13] However, this may be accounted for by improvement in measurement practices, which includes a doubling of toxicological autopsies now being performed, meaning that more drugs related deaths are likely to be recorded.[14]
- Lifetime use of illicit drugs increased from 7.8% to 12%, lifetime use of cannabis increased from 7.6% to 11.7%, cocaine from 0.9% to 1.9%, ecstasy from 0.7% to 1.3%, and heroin from 0.7% to 1.1%[13] It has been proposed that this effect may have been been related to the candor of interviewees, who may have been inclined to answer more truthfully due to a reduction in the stigma associated with drug use.[14] Statistical trends in neighboring Spain and Italy during the same period also suggested an unclear relation between decriminalization and increased drug use, comparatively.[14]
- Drug use among adolescents and "problematic" users declined.[14]
- Drug-related criminal justice workloads decreased, while the amount of drugs seized increased in quantity.[14]
- Decreased street value of most illicit drugs, some significantly.[14]
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