I saw this a few months ago. It's nothing but good news. Hell, I've never even done any drugs and I think the system is totally screwed just about everywhere at the moment.
weird, i am from that country and those drugs possession etc are still ilegal , at least in Lisbon , maybe in Alentejo that can happen tho , wich leads me to think they mistook the country for a developed one?
I've always wished there was some way prisons could be productive. Train them and work them. You know... a work camp that isn't horribly evil.
we got that in norway. our prison system doesn't produce ex-cons, but productive members of society. sometimes. well it worked for my brother. he was a troubled child, went to prison, and now he's completed his education, and gotten a job hammering metal plates into airducts.
weird, i am from that country and those drugs possession etc are still ilegal , at least in Lisbon , maybe in Alentejo that can happen tho , wich leads me to think they mistook the country for a developed one?
"Drug legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and using drugs; no country has tried it. In contrast, decriminalization, as practiced in Portugal, eliminates jail time for drug users but maintains criminal penalties for dealers. Spain and Italy have also decriminalized personal use of drugs and Mexico's president has proposed doing the same."
So it's still illegal. It's just decriminalized. We've decriminalized marijuana in Canada or at least BC as well. As far as I'm concerned they should open BC Marijuana stores and close the BC Liquor stores. It would probably be better for all our health... I don't even smoke the stuff but you know. It's everywhere anyway. Alcohol is nasty... I drink though
So it's still illegal. It's just decriminalized. We've decriminalized marijuana in Canada or at least BC as well. As far as I'm concerned they should open BC Marijuana stores and close the BC Liquor stores. It would probably be better for all our health... I don't even smoke the stuff but you know. It's everywhere anyway. Alcohol is nasty... I drink though
I've noticed it's a lot easier to drive on 4/20 than St. Patrick's day.
actually Johny it is decriminalized yes. I think they removed it from the law, so it isn't illegal but they don't admit it is legal... bureaucratic bullshit anyway. You can have a few doses for yourself, if you got caught by police they still identify you, and you will be sent for a few psychology help sessions and so on... if that works perfect? I doubt it but indeed it's better then other systems.
weird, i am from that country and those drugs possession etc are still ilegal , at least in Lisbon , maybe in Alentejo that can happen tho , wich leads me to think they mistook the country for a developed one?
no they are not. you are alowed to carry up to a certain amount, bellow that it is consider for consuption, above that you get persecuted as someone who intended to sell.
dont know the exact amounts though, but they are pretty small.
its the line between user and dealer that is still very blurry unfortunately.
I think if on a Monday our governments found away of legalizing drugs in a way that also allowed them to manipulate their citizens just a bit better than they have with all their anti-drug propaganda up until now, we'd all be able to buy cocaine from our supermarkets by the end of the week.
A while ago someone from my class (i study biology) gave a presentation about how to genetically adjust hemp plants to remove the THC production, so that they could be used in the USA as a fabric... they have to genetically modify a plant that is perfectly fine, only so that there is no THC (the concentration of THC in hemp is very small) in it so that it is allowed to grow it in america. shit sux . Netherlands FTW!
so basically its decriminalized...but you still get punishment and record ? i dont get it.
You don't get a record with decriminalisation. It's like getting a speeding fine. Although in this case it's a choice between rehabilitiation or a fine.
we got that in norway. our prison system doesn't produce ex-cons, but productive members of society. sometimes. well it worked for my brother. he was a troubled child, went to prison, and now he's completed his education, and gotten a job hammering metal plates into airducts.
We used to be a lot better about that stuff in the states.
Johny, as an easier example is almost the same thing how abortion is legislated in Portugal. They removed it from the law, so it isn't illegal, there isn't any punishment, but it is not legal as that would look bad if written down on paper... so they omitted it from the law.
interesting but it's odd that the production and selling is still illegal - isn't that where the major crime problems come from?
well, if there is no customers, sales will suffer, and the criminals get less money.
i think that the heavy drugs might be prescribed as medication during the rehabilitation as well, if i'm not entirely mistaken.
I dont know about portugal but over here we have coffeeshops that sell weed and hash legally, but you can only get and carry a certain amount for it to be legal, they wont sell you more than the legal amount you can have on you(which is 5 gram, 1 gram costs about 5, 1 gram is enough for about 5 joints).
Also it is illegal to grow more than 5 hemp plants per person, yet the coffee shops still get their supplies from 'secret' growers... A lot of people just redecorate their attic or a spare room to grow lots of plants, but it is hard to keep it a secret due to large electric bills(for the lamps) and the tops of the plants have a very distinctive odor that you can smell from a very long distance when they are fully grown.
If you get caught growing more than 5 plants you get a fine and have to spend a month or two in jail, so only white trash try it.
I think it is a good thing that you dont have to look for some shady figure to buy weed or hash from, but you can just walk into a shop, know the stuff is good and you can just pay a fixed price. Where as a drug dealer would try to rip you off, try to get you addicted on other and more expensive drugs so you spend more money. They just made the drug dealer a useless job! Now the only people doing illegal things are the growers, but they will never have direct contact with the users, so they will only have the option to make deals with the coffeeshops. But since the coffee shops are legal & have a fixed price and there arent that many coffee shops in most towns(except amsterdam of course ), they will just try to get a good deal and get rid of the stuff... so they wont cause so many problems. Its brilliant!
The only reason the war on drugs exists is to fund the prison industry with tax payer dollars. Prison should only be for violent people.
I believe it goes way further away than just funding an industry that should by all acounts be federal and state owned, but I don't want to get into foil hat mode.
Either way, it's a good move from the gov't of Portugal and I wish more European countries pull their heads out of their asses and start taxing drugs instead of adding to the deficit by jailing users and low time dealers who they catch with like 200 grams of weed and shit. That's ridiculous.
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The only reason the war on drugs exists is to fund the prison industry with tax payer dollars. Prison should only be for violent people.
we got that in norway. our prison system doesn't produce ex-cons, but productive members of society. sometimes. well it worked for my brother. he was a troubled child, went to prison, and now he's completed his education, and gotten a job hammering metal plates into airducts.
We have them in Mississippi. We used to call them chain gangs. Now they call them trustees.
Im just back from holland so umm yeah:D
"Drug legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and using drugs; no country has tried it. In contrast, decriminalization, as practiced in Portugal, eliminates jail time for drug users but maintains criminal penalties for dealers. Spain and Italy have also decriminalized personal use of drugs and Mexico's president has proposed doing the same."
So it's still illegal. It's just decriminalized. We've decriminalized marijuana in Canada or at least BC as well. As far as I'm concerned they should open BC Marijuana stores and close the BC Liquor stores. It would probably be better for all our health... I don't even smoke the stuff but you know. It's everywhere anyway. Alcohol is nasty... I drink though
I've noticed it's a lot easier to drive on 4/20 than St. Patrick's day.
no they are not. you are alowed to carry up to a certain amount, bellow that it is consider for consuption, above that you get persecuted as someone who intended to sell.
dont know the exact amounts though, but they are pretty small.
its the line between user and dealer that is still very blurry unfortunately.
I think if on a Monday our governments found away of legalizing drugs in a way that also allowed them to manipulate their citizens just a bit better than they have with all their anti-drug propaganda up until now, we'd all be able to buy cocaine from our supermarkets by the end of the week.
You don't get a record with decriminalisation. It's like getting a speeding fine. Although in this case it's a choice between rehabilitiation or a fine.
We used to be a lot better about that stuff in the states.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111843426
well, if there is no customers, sales will suffer, and the criminals get less money.
i think that the heavy drugs might be prescribed as medication during the rehabilitation as well, if i'm not entirely mistaken.
Also it is illegal to grow more than 5 hemp plants per person, yet the coffee shops still get their supplies from 'secret' growers... A lot of people just redecorate their attic or a spare room to grow lots of plants, but it is hard to keep it a secret due to large electric bills(for the lamps) and the tops of the plants have a very distinctive odor that you can smell from a very long distance when they are fully grown.
If you get caught growing more than 5 plants you get a fine and have to spend a month or two in jail, so only white trash try it.
I think it is a good thing that you dont have to look for some shady figure to buy weed or hash from, but you can just walk into a shop, know the stuff is good and you can just pay a fixed price. Where as a drug dealer would try to rip you off, try to get you addicted on other and more expensive drugs so you spend more money. They just made the drug dealer a useless job! Now the only people doing illegal things are the growers, but they will never have direct contact with the users, so they will only have the option to make deals with the coffeeshops. But since the coffee shops are legal & have a fixed price and there arent that many coffee shops in most towns(except amsterdam of course
I believe it goes way further away than just funding an industry that should by all acounts be federal and state owned, but I don't want to get into foil hat mode.
Either way, it's a good move from the gov't of Portugal and I wish more European countries pull their heads out of their asses and start taxing drugs instead of adding to the deficit by jailing users and low time dealers who they catch with like 200 grams of weed and shit. That's ridiculous.