Report of visit by a Committee delegation to examine the impact of Portuguese approach to the possession of certain drugs!
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/24202/1/Justice%20Comm%20Final-Report—Lisbon-2015.pdf
Comments
“Such reports are a joke. A three day visit to hear reports from those with a vested interest in a good outcome. No evidence sited. Instead of a junket tour of Portugal a review of the literature might have been more informative.
The “dramatic fall” in HIV cases has no relationship to any policy regarding drugs. Firstly, as at 2011 Portugal had the highest prevalence of any Western European country at .7% compared to .2 to .3%. If the drug policy had any impact one would have thought that 15 years would have been long enough to reduce HIV to European average levels. Moreover only 4.2% of infections were considered to be due to injecting drugs. Put these two stats together and if all injecting drug use was eliminated the best result would be less than a 4% decline among drug users. That is an overall drop of 0.02%. If it has declined then other factors must be responsible.
Also with 13.5% unemployment and much higher among youth it is doubtful if the subsidised job scheme for addicts has had any impact despite the positive spin.
Stats such as average price for drugs may indicate a shift in demand, but crime still exists to supply the drugs. So what use the delegations visit if their aim was to deal with drug selling crime gangs…Utter nonsense. “
Dr C. (Australia)
“Interesting! I wonder why they did not tell us how many addicts are still experiencing death due to drugs or how many are no longer willing to go to treatment or improve their living conditions.”
Dr. C.F. (U.S.A)
“Our Portuguese colleagues say this is a complete crock — it has been a dismal failure.”
Dr A.R. (Australia)
For a look at the evidence go to
https://www.dontlegalizedrugs.com/files/images/pages/TheFailedPortugeseExperiment-The%20Evidence.pdf