[rubecube]

Good write-up in the G&M on why we shouldn't just stop with pot.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...b+Articl+Links

People have always used psychoactive substances – and they always will. They do so principally for one of two reasons, for pleasure, or to relieve pain (physical and emotional). About 90 per cent of people who use illicit drugs don't have a drug problem. Same goes for licit drugs like alcohol. Some people like wine, others a few tokes, some the occasional snort of cocaine or a hit of MDMA.

Very few users become addicted, regardless of the drug, and those who do almost all have an illness, and they will not be dissuaded (or cured for that matter) by prosecution. Not to mention that punitive anti-drug measures harm the marginalized and racialized disproportionately.

Decriminalizing drugs is not a radical idea – at least not once you dispense with the hysteria. Mainstream groups like the Canadian Public Health Association support decriminalization because, when you look at the science dispassionately, it works.

There is also good real-world evidence. About 25 countries have decriminalized drug possession to varying degrees. The most notable is Portugal, which in 2001, passed groundbreaking laws that essentially allow anyone to hold a 10-day supply of drugs for personal use – whether it's 25 grams of marijuana, two grams of cocaine or one gram of heroin, ecstasy or amphetamines.

Instead of sending people to jail, drug users can be sent to a "dissuasion panel" for a chat; most people receive no penalty (though fines and community service are possible), and those who seem to have an illness are prescribed therapy or other forms of treatment.

Since the change was enacted, there has been little change in the levels of drug use, the rates of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C (which are often spread through needle-sharing) are down sharply and overdoses have dropped by a factor of five.

This is not to suggest decriminalization is a silver bullet. Portugal has also invested the savings from not prosecuting drug users into harm-reduction measures. But those programs have been more effective because they have removed the stigma for people who need help from thinking they are criminals.