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Seeing the rapid tipping point (look at the past 20 years) gives me hope that we me see decriminalization of all substances in more countries (even the US) duri

Seeing the rapid tipping point (look at the past 20 years) gives me hope that we me see decriminalization of all substances in more countries (even the US) during my lifetime. I believe that prohibition just represents an emotional cognitive bias (drugs are bad! drug users are bad!) as any rational evidence based analysis comes to the conclusion that not only does prohibition not work for decreasing drug use, it actually increases both the negative person effects of that use and contributes to externalities like increasing the power/funds of violent drug cartels in various parts of the world. Portugal was a great experiment. It worked. Let's push for full legalization or at least decriminalization across the board.

codyb 8y ago
The big negatives in Portugal is the fact stuff isn't actually legalized. Walking around Lisbon at night you're constantly accosted by thuggish groups of dealers offering cocaine, hash, marijuana, and other drugs. If you watch them from a bar or something you'll see people interact with them and suddenly there are four of them around and they demand more and more money after the person had already paid the agreed upon price. I even saw someone get jumped by a group of these guys after he protested that they had agreed to 20 euros for some weed and then wanted however much more. They should make that studf legal so drug users can go buy quality drugs from the pharmacist or whatever and cleanup the streets of all the semi-violent and aggressive drug gangs that roam their cities.
- b1r6 8y ago
  Are there no police in these areas to deter harassment/assault/robbery? If not, that's certainly a contributing factor.
  - codyb 8y ago
    I never saw the police do a single thing and the gangs seem to focus exclusively on foreigners which seems to be most of the people partying in Lisbon while I was there.

codyb 8y ago

The big negatives in Portugal is the fact stuff isn't actually legalized. Walking around Lisbon at night you're constantly accosted by thuggish groups of dealers offering cocaine, hash, marijuana, and other drugs. If you watch them from a bar or something you'll see people interact with them and suddenly there are four of them around and they demand more and more money after the person had already paid the agreed upon price. I even saw someone get jumped by a group of these guys after he protested that they had agreed to 20 euros for some weed and then wanted however much more. They should make that studf legal so drug users can go buy quality drugs from the pharmacist or whatever and cleanup the streets of all the semi-violent and aggressive drug gangs that roam their cities.

b1r6 8y ago
Are there no police in these areas to deter harassment/assault/robbery? If not, that's certainly a contributing factor.
- codyb 8y ago
  I never saw the police do a single thing and the gangs seem to focus exclusively on foreigners which seems to be most of the people partying in Lisbon while I was there.