Legalize ALL Drugs?

In 2001 Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for "personal possession of drugs - including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine". So what has the result of this course of action been? Well of course the society has collapsed, all civil order has evaporated, and crowds of bleary eyed, AIDS-infected, psychotic and violent youths roam the streets raping old ladies and torturing animals??? Well that may be the case in the nightmares of the right-wing prohibitionists but the truth is something else entirely.
 The result of Portugal's change of philosophy has been lower rates of drug use, dramatically lower levels of infection of the HIV/AIDS virus and higher numbers of addicts in treatment. Not to mention huge monetary savings from not putting so many people in jail. The money saved has been directed toward funding the higher levels of treatment.
 It would be my prediction that in the long term the effect on the crime rate will be significant as far fewer people are having to engage in criminal activity to fund their habit. There will be fewer unplanned pregnancies and lower rates of venereal diseases. Fewer drug users will need treatment for things such as abscesses, infections and other health problems associated with injecting with poor technique, reused needles, and unhygienic or poorly lit injecting environments. Not to mention less people dying from overdose. The list of benefits is endless.
 Due to my own history I tend to focus on the issues relating to the injection of illicit narcotics. The next logical step in my mind would be to work on getting rid of another common risk to injecting drug users - unclean gear. To achieve this a legal supply network needs to be set up to supply clean, pharmaceutical grade drugs to users. This system would also go a long way to removing funding, and therefore power,  from the hands of criminal organisations.
 An interesting contrast to Portugal is the failed policies of the United States of America. With 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners they show the rest of the world that having some of the world's harshest sentences for drug crime does not equate to lower use. I like this little factoid from a recent Time Magazine article on Portugal's drugs policy - "Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana". 

 Which ever way you look at the argument it is clear that it is time to look at doing things a little differently than just punish, punish, punish, and hope it goes away.

To check out the Time article click here