Historic! Norway's Parliament Votes to Decriminalize ALL Drugs

Sat Dec 23 00:18:49 PST 2017

This is a "scientific" experiment I believe is worth conducting - is
there more or less harm when drugs are decriminalized and /or
legalized - I suspect that overall harm is minimized note for example
the comment "drastically reducing crime".

----- Forwarded message from Jim <jim.sovereign at optusnet.com.au> -----
Subject: Historic! Norway's Parliament Votes to Decriminalize ALL Drugs

The Mind Unleashed
Claire Bernish
Dec 18, 2017

http://themindunleashed.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ecsss-1440x814.jpg
In a bid to assist addicts, rather than lock users in cages, Norway’s
parliament voted last week to decriminalize all drugs — citing
Portugal and its general success lowering addiction and incarceration
rates, getting those who need it into treatment, and drastically
reducing crime and other issues related to the illegality of
substances for personal use — thus, becoming the first Scandinavian
nation to do so.  Four major political parties campaigned in favor of
the revolutionary shift in policy, and a majority vote
<http://mixmag.net/read/norway-votes-in-favour-of-drug-decriminalisation-news>
in Storting, Norwegian parliament, brought to fruition their efforts
to, as Nicolas Wilkinson, health spokesman for the Socialist Left
(SV) party, explained
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/norway-parliament-drugs-decriminalise-recreational-cocaine-heroin-marijuana-a8111761.html>
, “stop punishing people who struggle, but instead give them help and
treatment.” “It is important to emphasise that we do not legalise
cannabis and other drugs, but we decriminalise,” Storting Health
Committee Deputy Chairman Sveinung Stensland told
<https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/rusmidler/historisk-i-stortinget-slutt-paa-straff-for-rusmisbrukere/a/24209948/>
national publication, VG.  “The change will take some time, but that
means a changed vision: those who have a substance abuse problem
should be treated as ill, and not as criminals with classical
sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.” The Independent reports
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/norway-parliament-drugs-decriminalise-recreational-cocaine-heroin-marijuana-a8111761.html>
the parties backing the measure included the Conservatives (Hoyre),
Liberals (Venstre), the Labor Party (Ap), and the Socialist Left (SV)
— with those voting in favor of full decriminalization directing the
Norwegian government to reform its drug policies accordingly.  It
wasn’t just the relative success
<http://pontiactribune.com/2015/04/portugals-success-story-decriminalizing-all-drugs/>
in Portugal that motivated Norwegian politicians to act in addicts’
better interests, but Norway’s own timid experimentations with
decriminalization.  Newsweek reports
<http://www.newsweek.com/norway-wants-decriminalize-drugs-748356>  of
the historic vote, “It’s a big next step for the Scandinavian
country, which has been dancing around the possibility of
decriminalization for several years. In 2006, it started to test a
program that would sentence drug users to treatment programs, rather
than jail, in the cities Bergen and Oslo. In early 2016, the country
gave Norwegian courts the option to do this on a national level.”
“The goal is that more addicts will rid themselves of their drug
dependency and fewer will return to crime,” Justice Minister Anders
Anundsen, quoted by
<http://www.newsweek.com/norway-wants-decriminalize-drugs-748356>
Newsweek, asserted at the time. “But if the terms of the programme
are violated, the convicts must serve an ordinary prison term.” In
the broadest strokes, this mimicked what Portuguese officials
initiated on July 1, 2001, with its groundbreaking — indeed, all but
unheard of at the time — decision to offer compassion and effective
patient care for addicts wanting treatment, while saying no to the
U.S.-led and utterly failed planetary war on drugs.  Mic elaborated
<https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.51DTzk1it>
on Portugal’s policies in February 2015, “If someone is found in the
possession of less than a 10-day supply of anything from marijuana to
heroin, he or she is sent to a three-person Commission for the
Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, typically made up of a lawyer, a doctor
and a social worker. The commission recommends treatment or a minor
fine; otherwise, the person is sent off without any penalty. A vast
majority of the time, there is no penalty.” With nonviolent drug
offenders cramped into overcrowded prisons, decriminalization frees
space for violent criminals and others most traditionally given
lengthy prison terms, while clearing overstuffed court dockets and
freeing resources needed in other areas of law enforcement.  Portugal
had experienced the worst of opioid crises and the highest proportion
of drug-related AIDS deaths in the European Union prior to mass
decriminalization, notes
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/norway-parliament-drugs-decriminalise-recreational-cocaine-heroin-marijuana-a8111761.html>
the Independent — which notes the nation now ranks second lowest in
the same for all drug-related deaths.  Further, as journalist Glenn
Greenwald, who authored an oft-cited Cato Institute white paper, Drug
Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and
Successful Drug Policies, published in April 2009, reiterated
<http://www.newsweek.com/greenwald-what-portugal-can-teach-us-about-decriminalizing-drugs-349992>
for Newsweek two years ago, “none of the nightmare scenarios touted
by preenactment decriminalization opponents — from rampant increases
in drug usage among the young to the transformation of Lisbon into a
haven for ‘drug tourists’ — has occurred.” Nonetheless,
decriminalization hasn’t garnered unanimous support among parliament
— detractors cite both legitimate and propagandically false
information in argument — and concerns linger over the ostensive
message sent to criminals, addicts, and users, when punitive measures
are considerably loosened.  Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and a
smattering of locations and cultures around the world — and, now,
Norway — have opted for the common sense and proven efficacious
treatment of addicts as patients in medical need, instead of wholly
useless punishment and incarceration.  Although a smattering of
articles in the international press reporting on decriminalization in
Norway included
<http://www.ladbible.com/news/news-norway-has-just-decriminalised-drugs-to-give-addicts-treatment-20171215>
‘several U.S. states’ among those having loosened drug laws, it must
be noted the legalization and decriminalization measures in various
states — and, almost exclusively pertaining to cannabis, only — come
weighted with governmental red tape and sticky fingers in the form of
questionable taxation codes, restrictions, and more. And the United
States remains gripped in the dark vortex of a spiraling opioid
crisis — a situation mirroring that of Portugal years ago.  In
September, economist and professor, Jeffrey Miron, of Harvard
University and the Cato Institute, opined
<https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/could-legalizing-all-drugs-solve-americas-opioid-epidemic>
for Fortune the probable benefits should America choose to examine
the crisis sans the goggles of decades of anti-drug propaganda,
asking, “Could Legalizing All Drugs Solve America’s Opioid Crisis?”
Miron concludes
<https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/could-legalizing-all-drugs-solve-americas-opioid-epidemic>
, appropriately, “Around the world, liberal drug policies have had
great success in reducing the harms from drug addiction, such as HIV
and overdoses. Faced with a raging opioid crisis, the U.S. would be
wise to model its own drug policy after countries that have undergone
similar experiences.” Indeed
<https://merryjane.com/news/portugal-drug-decriminalization-more-effective-than-brazil-drug-prohibition>
.
http://themindunleashed.com/2017/12/norways-parliament-votes-to-decriminalize-all-drugs.html

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