Mexico And Argentina Move Towards Decriminalizing Drugs

guardian.co.uk:

Argentina and Mexico have taken significant steps towards decriminalizing drugs amid a growing Latin American backlash against the US-sponsored "war on drugs".

Read the whole story: guardian.co.uk

Comments

[yankees]

Coming to a USA city near you in the future. My concern is not with marijuana but with heroin and cocaine and that type.

[iLoveOldNY]

Don't be concerned. Just because they decriminalize heroin doesn't mean that you will go out there and shoot up. It will save tens of millions in incarceration costs

[JNarragansett]

Portugal had a huge heroin epidemic years ago. They commissioned a non-partisan group of experts to come up with the best public policy solution to the problem. Portugal decriminalized drugs, increased the emphasis on treatment and they have seen a dramatic improvement. Decriminalization is the starting point, but it is not enough in and of itself. The decriminalization removed the stigma from users and helped to increase the number of people seeking treatment. The resources that had been spent on enforcement could be diverted to treatment. It seems hard to believe that decriminalizing cocaine and heroin actually made the drug problem less severe, but that's exactly what happened in Portugal. It will be interesting to see if Argentina and Mexico have similar results.

Right now, with a majority of the population sympathetic to marijuana, it is still politically untenable to promote decriminalization politically. I can't imagine any politician standing up and saying that we should decriminalize heroin.

[piul05]

I was going to give this very same example - thank you.

[BBackSoon]

Sounds like a good idea. But then again all I have to do is go to my doctor ($30) and complain that I have trouble sleeping and I can have some Ambien ($25) and then mention that my knees hurt and I get Darvocet($25). And as long as I have my prescriptions I still pass a drug test.

Pay the man and you can stay medicated. As long as I don’t mind the risk of addiction or the an-al seepage.

[sense11]

Awesome, that's how you really win that so called war on drugs. By decriminalizing marijuana you reduce drug related crimes by nearly 75%

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

Why are you trying to make sense? Common sense (which the US lacks) would say to legalize drugs but the Prison industry would fight tooth and nail to prevent it from happeing.

[piul05]

Exactly, Loïc Wacquant has written extensively on the theme.

But worse, US policy is, in fact, controlled by three industrial complexes: the military, the phamaceutical and the prison ones.

That's the clasic definition of fascism.

[getoffmedz]

For the U.S. legalization of marijuana is simply a silly pipe dream. There is huge multi-billion dollar industry of misfortune built around law enforcement efforts to protect America from this evil killer weed. Think of all those anti-pot politicians, specialized police, their animals, jailers, bailbondsmen, lawyers, rehab clinics, assorted brothers-in-law who feed on the tit of marijuana enforcement. WHAT ABOUT THEM? Not to mention marijuana competes with Big Pharma. Marijuana enforcement is a huge bidness, y'all and it will NEVER stop.

No matter how progressive Mexico or Argentina become.