Tag Archives: War on Drugs

Mexico decriminalizes “personal use” amounts of drugs

“MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.

The law sets out maximum ‘personal use’ amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.

Anyone caught with drug amounts under the personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory — although no penalties for noncompliance are specified.” (Read more from belowthebeltway.com)

Washington Post: Time to End the War on Drugs

“The prohibition on drugs leads to unregulated, and often violent, public drug dealing. Perhaps counterintuitively, better police training and bigger guns are not the answer.

When it makes sense to deal drugs in public, a neighborhood becomes home to drug violence. For a low-level drug dealer, working the street means more money and fewer economic risks. If police come, and they will, some young kid will be left holding the bag while the dealer walks around the block. But if the dealer sells inside, one raid, by either police or robbers, can put him out of business for good. Only those virtually immune from arrests (much less imprisonment) — college students, the wealthy and those who never buy or sell from strangers — can deal indoors….

Drug users generally aren’t violent. Most simply want to be left alone to enjoy their high. It’s the corner slinger who terrifies neighbors and invites rivals to attack. Public drug dealing creates an environment where disputes about money or respect are settled with guns.” (Read more from dailypaul.com)

Holy smokes!

U.S. Ignores WHO report on cocaine

“In the case of cocaine there is an even more striking precedent for evidence being ignored: the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted what is probably the largest ever study of global use. In March 1995 they released a briefing kit which summarised their conclusions, with some tantalising bullet points.

‘Health problems from the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use,’ they said. ‘Cocaine-related problems are widely perceived to be more common and more severe for intensive, high-dosage users and very rare and much less severe for occasional, low-dosage users.’

The full report – which has never been published – was extremely critical of most US policies.” (Read more from effectmodification.blogspot.com)

Portugal’s drug decriminalization ‘bizarrely underappreciated’

“Champions of harsh drug criminalization laws as the best solution to curbing drug use will be chagrined to find that Portugal’s eight year history of decriminalization has led to lower drug usage rates.

According to a new report entitled, ‘Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies,’ while drug use across the European Union has risen steadily since 2000, Portugal, which has the most liberal drug laws of any country, has actually seen its prevalence rates decrease in various age groups since it decriminalized all drugs in 2001. Prevalence rates measure how many people have consumed drugs over the course of their lifetime. . . .

Greenwald said the strongest evidence in Portugal that supports drug decriminalization is the declining usage of drugs in the crucial 15-19 age group.

In every single drug category, with the exception of the new drugs that have come into popular usage since 2001, like ketamine and GHB, teen drug use has declined. The biggest drug category declines were seen in marijuana, which saw teen drug use slip from just over 10 percent in 2001 to 6 percent in 2006.

‘Drug policymakers are ecstatic about this,’ Greenwald said.

Since decriminalization took effect in Portugal, deaths as a result of drug usage have declined significantly. Opiate-related deaths experienced the biggest drop, falling from about 275 deaths in 2000 to about 125 in 2006, according to information provided in the report from the Portugal National Institute of Legal Medicine.” (Read more from rawstory.com)

If I understand correctly, Portugal decriminalized drugs on the street level. No one will go to prison for using or possessing a small quantity of drugs. Major trafficing remains illegal. It’s a little hypocritical, but it’s a huge step in the right direction. Someone tell Chairman Obama and his statist followers that liberty (i.e. leaving people the hell alone) works.

Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Policy

“In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute.” (Read more from sciam.com)

Mexican Drug Lord Officially Thanks American Lawmakers for Keeping Drugs Illegal

“Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera reported head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, ranked 701st on Forbes’ yearly report of the wealthiest men alive, and worth an estimated $1 billion, today officially thanked United States politicians for making sure that drugs remain illegal. According to one of his closest confidants, he said, ‘I couldn’t have gotten so stinking rich without George Bush, George Bush Jr., Ronald Reagan, even El Presidente Obama, none of them have the cajones to stand up to all the big money that wants to keep this stuff illegal. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say, Gracias amigos, I owe my whole empire to you.’ According to sources in the Mexican government, President Calderon is begging American officials to, in the words of reggae great Peter Tosh, legalize it.” (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)

Ron Paul debates actor Stephen Baldwin over Drug War

There was no federal laws against Marijuana until 1937. I’m beginning to think our “greatest generation” was only greatest from the point of view of tyranny. See When the United States CONFISCATED GOLD FROM PRIVATE CITIZENS.

Ron Paul: “[The drug cartels] lobby to keep these laws in place because they can’t exist without them.”

See also: Mexican drug lord makes Forbes’ billionaire list

Stossel – The FEDERAL war against Charles Lynch

Charles Lynch ran a medical marijuana clinic in California after it his state and community legalized it. The sheriff tried and failed to bust him for non-prescription sales, so he went the Feds. The Feds didn’t care about state or local laws. Charles Lynch now face 100 years in prison. He will be sentenced on March 23rd. See Friends of Charles Lynch.

Sen. Kerry, Sen. Edwards, and President Obama all admitted to using pot. The feds are bunch of opportunistic cowards who pick on people unable to fight back.