That's a rational mind talking - shame that a heroin users brain circuits soon lose rationality.
Rationalise you say...
Portugal facts; changing the offense from a criminal one, with prison a possible punishment, to an administrative one if the amount possessed was no more than ten days' supply of that substance.
Increased uptake of treatment.[11]
Reduction in new HIV diagnoses amongst drug users by 17%[17]
Reduction in drug related deaths, although this reduction has decreased in later years. The number of drug related deaths is now almost on the same level as before the Drug strategy was implemented.[11][17] However, this may be accounted for by improvement in measurement practices, which includes a doubling of toxicological autopsies now being performed, meaning that more drugs related deaths are likely to be recorded.[18]
Reported lifetime use of "all illicit drugs" increased from 7.8% to 12%, lifetime use of cannabis increased from 7.6% to 11.7%, cocaine use more than doubled, from 0.9% to 1.9%, ecstasy nearly doubled from 0.7% to 1.3%, and heroin increased from 0.7% to 1.1%[17] It has been proposed that this effect may have been related to the candor of interviewees, who may have been inclined to answer more truthfully due to a reduction in the stigma associated with drug use.[18]
However, during the same period, the use of heroin and cannabis also increased in Spain and Italy, where drugs for personal use was decriminalised many years earlier than in Portugal [18][19] while the use of Cannabis and heroin decreased in the rest of Western Europe.[20][21]
Drug use among adolescents (13-15 yrs) and "problematic" users declined.[18]
Drug-related criminal justice workloads decreased.[18]
Decreased street value of most illicit drugs, some significantly.[18]
Note:
In July 2001, a new law maintained the status of illegality for using or possessing any drug for personal use without authorization. The offense was changed from a criminal one, with prison a possible punishment, to an administrative one if the amount possessed was no more than ten days' supply of that substance.[1] This was in line with the de facto Portuguese drug policy before the reform.
Drug addicts were then to be aggressively targeted with therapy or community service rather than fines or waivers.[10]
Even if there are no criminal penalties, these changes did not legalize drug use in Portugal. Possession has remained prohibited by Portuguese law, and criminal penalties are still applied to drug growers, dealers and traffickers.[11][12]
Nobody is saying legalise and make free all drugs. Simply don't treat users as criminals creating a bigger mess.
I suspect the tobacco, alcohol and pain killing drugs industry doesn't want cannabis legalised. Considering the refined regulated drug with it being less addictive and having less side effects will become choice of preference.
