In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.
Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank.
The war on drugs causes US tax payers BILLIONS! Over 800,000 people a year are arrested for marijuana alone, crowding up our jail cells and filling spots of REAL criminals! The US is the number buyer and the largest contributor for illegal drugs in the world. The war on drugs is a joke and a waste of money….it does not work and has never worked.
