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> Porto’s police have increased patrols to drug-plagued neighborhoods. But given existing laws, there’s only so much they can do. On a recent afternoon, an emac
by personjerry 3y ago
> Porto’s police have increased patrols to drug-plagued neighborhoods. But given existing laws, there’s only so much they can do. On a recent afternoon, an emaciated man in striped pants sleeping in front of a state-funded drug-use center awoke to a patrol of four officers. He sat up, then defiantly began assembling his crack pipe. Officers walked on, shaking their heads.
What were they supposed to in a different country? Arrest the guy, spend money putting him in jail, wait til he gets back out and repeat?
- jrvarela56 3y agoYour comment gave me SF vibes. Somewhere in the middle; the answer isn't jailing or ignoring.
- EA-3167 3y agoThe answer is treating it as a medical and social problem, it's a known solution, it just costs money and Portugal decided in 2012 to cheap out on it, outsource it, and then act shocked when it went wrong.
- fuzztester 3y agoWhat is the known solution? I don't know much about this area.
- foogazi 3y agoIf it was you what would you want us to do ? Let you sleep on the streets smoking crack ? treatment for the chemical addiction, and psychological therapy for the trauma around addiction
- Trencin 3y agoLove your children, and give them a safe and strong family to grow up in. Isn't that a fundamental part of raising a happy human being.
- foogazi 3y agoYes, and if for whatever reason you are not around how would you like society to act towards your children?
- fuzztester 3y agoI don't know. I said above: >I don't know much about this area.
- scaramanga 3y agoI guess salaries which allow people to provide for their basic needs would be a good start. Or providing secure, safe, affordable housing. Where people don't live in constant fear and material insecurity which makes it impossible to sleep without getting fucking blitzed, and where you're too busy working every hour god sends in miserable conditions, to build or maintain a supportive social network. What, those aren't the priorities of Jeff Bezos? Huh.... Surprised to learn that, given the rosy conditions at amazon warehouses.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- JimtheCoder 3y agoI am not sure they could have done anything different, but that's the point - if law enforcement officers can witness someone doing something illegal, but there is no point in enforcing the law, there is a bigger problem.
- ndlan 3y agoArrest him and put him through forced rehab.
- cwkoss 3y agoI wonder what is the effectiveness rate of forced rehab programs.
- slashdev 3y agoIt’s very low, lower than regular rehab, which is already not that effective.
- Gareth321 3y agoWhich isn’t an argument against forced treatment because nominally, more people get treatment. To illustrate using made-up numbers: Policy A: No forced treatment: 10% of addicts attempt treatment with a 10% success rate = 1% overall success rate. Policy B: Forced treatment: 10% of addicts attempt treatment with a 10% success rate = 1% + 20% of addicts forced into treatment with a 5% success rate = 1% = 2% overall success rate.
- slashdev 3y agoThat’s a lot of resources for a low success rate though. The obvious question is could you get a better result using those resources elsewhere? Like education?
- standardUser 3y agoWhy, what did this person do that was so serious they should be jailed?
- ndlan 3y agoUsing in public.
- standardUser 3y agoI don't get it. Someone smoking something doesn't bother me, unless maybe if I can smell it, then it bothers me very, very slightly. The same way someone drinking a beer in public doesn't bother me. How could it? If sleeping on the street is a crime, enforce that crime. Don't pretend that if we magically banned all of the hypothetical reasons people might commit that crime that it will eliminate that crime. We can't enforce every-fucking-thing - and we have proven conclusively that we can never effectively ban popular street drugs - so let's focus instead on crimes with victims and enforce them more aggressively.
- za3faran 3y ago> Someone smoking something doesn't bother me, unless maybe if I can smell it, then it bothers me very, very slightly. Read up about the dangers of second and third degree smoking. > The same way someone drinking a beer in public doesn't bother me. How could it? Perhaps those who've had family or friends killed by drunk driving or drunken homicide might have something else to say.
- RoyalHenOil 3y ago>Perhaps those who've had family or friends killed by drunk driving or drunken homicide might have something else to say. A guy I used to date was rear-ended while waiting at a red light by someone who was texting while driving. It was an extremely serious wreck (the person who hit him did not brake at all, ge was so absorbed in his phone), and my ex was lucky to survive it. But people texting on their phones in public places doesn't bother him. He is not in favor of making SMS illegal. That would be utterly absurd.
- scaramanga 3y agoYes, but these people thrive on inflicting sadistic "treatments" and "remedies" on everyone more vulnerable than themselves. They're not interested in responsible driving, they're just looking for any excuse for their sadism. Note that the discussion isn't even about dangerous driving, that's a complete tangent. It's about whether drug use _per se_ is criminalized. Not even legal, just whether the remedy for drug use should be help or punishment. Portugal never decriminalize or legalised vehicular homicide.
- ReptileMan 3y agoWorks nice in Singapore.
- scaramanga 3y agoYeah gosh, like, wow, you can't arrest someone without a jolly good reason... I can see the sad-faces all around, as journo's at the Oligarch's Daily Tribue lament that human rights are completely out of control now that cops can't roust people and smack them around for the crime of making their own personal choices, harming nobody. "B..b..but what about property values?!"
- dazc 3y ago"B..b..but what about property values?!" You mean that thing around which the entire economies of the western world revolve around?
- Aerroon 3y agoWhen property is an investment then owning (useful) property becomes more expensive. Maybe the economy shouldn't revolve around it.
- jacquesm 3y agoYes, that's a problem too, but one thing at the time.
- BeFlatXIII 3y agoAll the more reason to let them crash.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 3y agoI genuinely can't tell what you are saying. I don't know if you are mocking people who speak like this and satirising their beliefs that drugs are harmless, or if you genuinely speak like this and are mocking the people who wish to criminalize drugs. Anyway, it's just more evidence for my campaign to criminalize sarcasm and get its users rousted and smacked by police.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dazc 3y agoThere were a lot of blind eyes already being turned before he got into this situation though.
- 99_00 3y agoPortegues have lots of tools. They are sent to drug court which doesn't give the same protections to defendents as criminal courts. They can be give a variety of punishments, like fine, ban from an area, associating with certain people, suspension of government support.
- KaiserPro 3y agoyou'd take him to hospital....