Could the decimalization of drugs work? Portugal is a case study proving the positive. Drug use is down and rehabilitation is up in a country that has decriminalized the use and possession of marijuana, cocaine and Methamphetamine. So could it work elsewhere in the world?
If anyone has seen the tv Series ‘The Wire’ you would have seen the season where the police created ‘little Amsterdam’ a section of Baltimore where drug gangs could sell their drugs and users could meet without retribution from the law. In the series, the experiment worked well. The drug gangs moved out of the centre of town. The crime rate dropped and Addiction centers and health officials were able to work amongst the addicts, helping them instead of leaving them to the fate of the city streets.
There are so many arguments for and against decimalization of drugs. A particular one against is the fact that many criminals, who may be more active in other crime rings (theft, hijacking etc) are often brought to justice because of drug possession. Many of them can’t be caught on other charges and if drugs were legalized, there would be no way of holding these criminals.
This debate should be had face to face over a couple of hours, so instead I leave you with the case study of Portugal to make up your own mind on the issue.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html
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