Re: [Drogenpolitik] Portugal

[TomKarla <TomKarla AT gmx.de>]

Guido, noch viel besser is ditte:

http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf

Von Glenn Greenwald, 2006, Verfassungsrechtler

mehr brauchen wir nich :-)

TomKarla

Am 16.04.2012 um 19:16 schrieb TomKarla:

> Hallo Guido,
> 
> ich hab noch eine sehr gute Quelle gefunden. 2011 gab es eine Auswertung zu 
> Effekten der Entkriminalisierung von Alex Stevens (Prof. für Kriminalistik, 
> University Kent). Es gibt eine Kurzfassung seiner Aussagen im Guardian:
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/05/portugal-uk-drugs-decriminalisation
> 
> Hier eine Kopie:
> Series: The Observer drugs debate
> 
> Previous | Next | Index
> Britain's drug policy will not improve until we are bold enough to 
> experiment
> 
> We can't know the potential benefits of innovations like Portugal's unless 
> we research them, says Alex Stevens
> 
> 
> Share 75
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> Comments (8)
> 
> By Alex Stevens
> The Observer, Sunday 5 September 2010
> Article history
> For years, the UK government has consistently used a myth to stave off any 
> bold innovations in our failing drug policy. It has predicted that 
> liberalisation would inevitably lead to higher rates of drug use and 
> related harms. The example of Portugal seriously challenges this argument.
> 
> The idea that decriminalisation increases drug problems was already on 
> shaky ground. Several countries and US states have reduced or eliminated 
> criminal penalties for drug possession. They do not generally have higher 
> rates of drug use than their neighbours. The rate of cannabis use in the 
> Netherlands, for example, is lower than in the UK, even though the Dutch 
> decriminalised the use of cannabis in 1976. The Portuguese experience again 
> shows that there is no necessary link between the severity of sanctions and 
> rates of drug use. There have been some increases reported in drug use by 
> Portuguese adults since 2001, but these are no greater than those seen in 
> other southern European countries. More important are rates of drug use 
> among children, as they are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of 
> illicit drugs. In Portugal, these rates have fallen since decriminalisation.
> 
> As fewer people were arrested for drug offences, the prison population 
> fell. So did drug use and HIV among prisoners.
> 
> Portugal has also expanded its treatment programmes, including the use of 
> prescribed methadone. This would have reduced deaths and infections even 
> without decriminalisation, as it has elsewhere.
> 
> There are limits to the ability of decriminalisation to deal with harm 
> related to illicit drug markets. The policy has not cleared the dealers off 
> the cobbled streets of Lisbon's Bairro Alto. It cannot eliminate the 
> violence related to the unregulated economy of drug supply. Since 
> decriminalisation, Portugal's murder rate has increased, but it is not 
> known how much of this is linked to the drugs trade. The answer could be to 
> take the business out of the hands of violent criminals by handing it to 
> tightly regulated legal organisations, as has been suggested by the 
> Transform Drug Policy Foundation and others.
> 
> The potential benefits and costs of drug policy innovations will remain 
> incalculable as long as governments refuse to implement and research them. 
> The Portuguese began their apparently beneficial policy only after 
> commissioning research from respected academics. In the UK last autumn, we 
> saw the removal of the government's leading scientific adviser, Professor 
> David Nutt, for daring to tell the truth about its policies on cannabis and 
> ecstasy. Labour and the Conservatives colluded in this denial of the 
> evidence. They are now conspiring to block the creation of more effective, 
> evidence-based policies on alcohol. They have argued against the 
> introduction of a minimum unit price in Scotland on the basis that it is 
> experimental. But without experimentation, how can we create more effective 
> policies?
> 
> Politicians usually only suggest decriminalisation when they are either on 
> the verge of retirement or at the fringes of power. As a young MP, David 
> Cameron himself acknowledged the failures of current policies. He supported 
> fresh thinking on liberalisation, heroin prescription and drug consumption 
> rooms. The Portuguese example suggests he should have the courage of his 
> earlier convictions, now that he is in a position to enact them.
> 
> 
> Alex Stevens is professor of criminal justice at the University of Kent and 
> the author of Drugs, Crime and Public Health (Routledge, 2011)
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