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Legal ecstasy: dream AND reality?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Drink & Drugs
I found the following in Mixmag Feb 2002, page 91:

"Never will drug users go to jail," the Portuguese Government announces as it decriminalizes heroin, crack, cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis. Portugal's socialist authorities declare the zero-tolerance approach of the UK and US a failure. Portugal, however, is not a "drugs haven", the UK's Foreign Office warns.

Oh my God! <IMG SRC="eek.gif" border="0" ALT="icon"> <IMG SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">

Can this be for real? Did anyone else know about this?

But most importantly, what do you guys think the social consequences of such a radical u-turn will be on Portuguese kids? Will they be able to judge their own limits, or will the roads be paved with corpses? <IMG SRC="frown.gif" border="0" ALT="icon">

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So where do you buy them if sales and traffiking is still illegal, can drugs be bought legally at all in these countries?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You know that here in Brazil we have something related to that...The Portuguese and Brazilian government are trying to discuss Marijuana, Cocain, Extasy and all the drugs...

    I think it`s fine because if you only use it you don`t deserve to be arrested.
    Originally posted by RNT:
    <STRONG>lol...it was done a few years ago so I'm sure we would've heard it there were bodies lying the streets...

    The Portuguese Government has voted to decriminalise the consumption of illegal drugs such as cannabis and heroin.
    Drug users will now be treated as sick people in need of medical help.

    The idea is to get away from punishment towards treatment

    Carlos Borges
    Previously, drug users and those caught in possession of small amounts of banned drugs for personal use faced up to a year's imprisonment.

    The sale and trafficking of illegal drugs remain crimes.

    Under the new law police will report drug takers to special local authority commissions which will ensure addicts seek treatment.

    Heroin users are patients, not criminals

    "The idea is to get away from punishment towards treatment," government spokesman Carlos Borges told Reuters news agency.

    The ruling Socialist Party, which is one seat short of an outright parliamentary majority, was backed in the vote by the Communist Party and other left-of-centre parties.

    Referendum call

    The main conservative opposition party, the Social Democrats, had urged the government to call a referendum on the proposed new law.

    Prime Minister Antonio Guterres rejected the referendum idea on the grounds that the change being put forward was not sufficiently sweeping to merit a national vote.

    A significant proportion of prisoners in Portugal's jails are there for drug-related offences, but the number of people sentenced simply for possession or consumption is very low.

    "It would not be more than a couple of dozen," said one government official.

    Portugal becomes the third member of the European Union, after Spain and Italy, to decriminalise the consumption and possession of small quantities of drugs.    </STRONG>

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