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I agree that it's a step forward, just that I think it doesn't address the biggest problems and it's not a solution. It certainly helps with the health problems
by x1798DE 12y ago
I agree that it's a step forward, just that I think it doesn't address the biggest problems and it's not a solution. It certainly helps with the health problems, but it's only a good step in the sense that nearly anything is better than the situation we have now.
I think another thing you should take from the Portugal situation is that full legalization would be unlikely to have many costs, because you're already making it so that the average consumer can get drugs anyway, so from their perspective the drugs are already "legal". Going from decriminalized to legal can more or less only have upsides.
If you want to say, "Hey, let's decriminalize it first, see how people react, then legalize it", that's great. If you are trying to say, "Keeping it illegal but not punishing the users as much is a good long-term compromise", that's where I'd push back. It helps, but all the biggest issues are essentially still there.
- joesmo 12y agoFull legalization is the optimal solution but this is still a political problem. To pass something like this, you have to pander to a lot of stupid idiots who may be persuaded to accept decriminalization but not full legalization, even in cases where the two are semi-equivalent. I think generally decriminalization is pushed for because of such wider support and the chance that it might and has succeeded in the past. Of course, once drugs are decriminalized, legalization is the next step. The reason for such roundabout tactics is that the opposition is not rational.