If you drink alcohol, yet you are against other drugs...

IrishEyes19 wrote: »

you need to read the posts carefully, I said, you cant compare them because they are so unlike each other. I may have used a very hard drug to make an example of. but likewise, Id be more worried about any type of drug over alcohol. I absolutely hate drugs. Be them soft or hard.

also, I just took heroin as an example, didnt mean to focus on it, ffs. so relax there.

gosuckonalemon wrote: »

Holy fcuk this girl is completely clueless and has no idea what she is on about.

Long story short...

If you lock a heroin addict in a room for 3 days and allow them to detox there is no risk of death. A truly horrible experience, both physically and mentally, all the same.

Put a serious alcoholic in a room and try get them to detox without medical attention...significant risk of death a la Amy Winehouse.

mattjack wrote: »

Where are you getting this from ? The only two drugs that can kill during withdrawal are alcohol and benzos . Withdrawal from heroin and most opiates almost never causes death.

Seachmall wrote: »

In Canada (Vancouver I believe) they had a huge heroin problem, after years of simply enforcing stricter and stricter laws they decided to take an alternative approach. They opened needle exchange programs as well as clinics for users to shoot up in. They essentially decriminalized heroin use.

They saw a drop in crime, a drop in HIV/AIDS, a drop in addicts overdosing, and a drop in the number of addicts in general. Users had direct access to nurses who worked in the clinic and had direct access to rehab facilities and programs. Money was saved in not prosecuting users who shot up in the clinics and because of clean syringes and water the hospitals weren't full of users who had gotten infections or were being diagnosed with diseases.

Politicians didn't like it of course, they see it as condoning drug use, but the objective facts are there. Regulating and monitoring drug use is better for everyone involved. It saves money and it saves lives.

So, "Would it be wise to suggest a guideline as opposed to a 'Say no to Drugs' campaign?"

Yes. But people don't like to think it would be. People are blinded by opinion and bias. The biggest problem with drug use is not the users, it's the public and the lawmakers.

Edit - Links
The project even has a website.
A brief write-up on it.

The government in Portugal has no plans to back down. Although the Netherlands is the European country most associated with liberal drug laws, it has already been ten years since Portugal became the first European nation to take the brave step of decriminalizing possession of all drugs within its borders—from marijuana to heroin, and everything in between. This controversial move went into effect in June of 2001, in response to the country’s spiraling HIV/AIDS statistics. While many critics in the poor and largely conservative country attacked the sea change in drug policy, fearing it would lead to drug tourism while simultaneously worsening the country’s already shockingly high rate of hard drug use, a report published in 2009 by the Cato Institute tells a different story.


Glenn Greenwald, the attorney and author who conducted the research, told 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."


Back in 2001, Portugal had the highest rate of HIV among injecting drug users in the European Union—an incredible 2,000 new cases a year, in a country with a population of just 10 million. Despite the predictable controversy the move stirred up at home and abroad, the Portuguese government felt there was no other way they could effectively quell this ballooning problem. While here in the U.S. calls for full drug decriminalization are still dismissed as something of a fringe concern, the Portuguese decided to do it, and have been quietly getting on with it now for a decade. Surprisingly, most credible reports appear to show that decriminalization has been a staggering success.

The DEA sees it a bit differently. Portugal, they say, was a disaster, with heroin and HIV rates out of control. "Portugal's addict population and the problems that go along with addiction continue to increase," the DEA maintains. "In an effort to reduce the number of addicts in the prison system, the Portuguese government has an enacted some radical policies in the last few years with the eventual decriminalization of all illicit drugs in July of 2001."


However, as Glenn Greenwald, the author of the Cato study, concludes: "By freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability to encourage drug addicts to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment programs to addicts."



Under the perfect system, treatment would also be voluntary, but as an alternative to jail, mandatory treatment save money. But for now, "the majority of EU states have rates that are double and triple the rate for post-decriminalization Portugal," Greenwald says.


For those looking for clues about how the U.S. government can tackle its domestic drug problem, the figures are enticing. Following decriminalization, Portugal eventually found itself with the lowest rates of marijuana usage in people over 15 in the EU: about 10%. Compare this to the 40% of people over 12 who regularly smoke pot in the U.S., a country with some of the most punitive drugs laws in the developed world.



Drug use of all kinds has declined in Portugal: Lifetime use among seventh to ninth graders fell from 14.01% to 10.6%. Lifetime heroin use among 16-18 year olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8%. And what about those horrific HIV infection rates that prompted the move in the first place? HIV infection rates among drug users fell by an incredible 17%, while drug related deaths were reduced by more than half. "There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal," said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, at a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.


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