It's a sign of abject dysfunction that you think a passing allusion to Portugal is any kind of response to what I said above. The sentiment I'm pushing against is the feel-good, free-love notion that what you put into your body is your own damn business. Recognizing the absurdity of that claim isn't a vote for criminalization or mass incarceration.
Indeed, Portugal has invested massively in the kind of healthcare and drug-treatment infrastructure that's required to effectively handle the inevitable results of decriminalisation.
Whatever you want to say about drugs or drug policy, the people who do them aren't just minding their own business. One way or the other, the rest of us have to respond to it. Complaints about the "hypocrisy" of attempts to reduce use simply are not serious.
And, as I said above, it's a position that rarely survives prolonged interaction with actual addicts.
> Indeed, Portugal has invested massively in the kind of healthcare and drug-treatment infrastructure that's required to effectively handle the inevitable results of decriminalisation.
No,, Portugal has invested massively in the healthcare and drug treatment programmes that you need whether drugs are legal or not.
The US could implement all of those tomorrow and still keep drugs illegal.
