Decriminalization Of Drug Usage Among Portugal - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Thanks for: Decriminalization Of Drug Usage Among Portugal

Principally, we support full decriminalization.

Decriminalization Is On The Rise

We do not support the use of administrative or other regimes to control, coerce, medicalize, pathologize, or penalize drug use. Decriminalizing drug possession in Vancouver is a bare minimum response click save lives amid ongoing housing and overdose crises and COVID We are pleased the City is considering this important policy.

Overdose rates have skyrocketed during the pandemic, largely due to drug prohibition, which creates stigma against drug use, criminalizes and incarcerates people who use drugs especially those who are Ueage or racializedfuels a toxic drug supply, and impedes access to health and harm reduction services. These approaches to drug possession do not help us.

Learning from Other Jurisdictions: Pitfalls of The Portugal Model

Instead, they preserve the same fear and distrust that drives drug use underground, negatively impacting our lives in much the same ways as criminalization itself. We want law enforcement to do one thing and one thing only: stand down. Full decriminalization will stop the cops from having unchecked power to come after and control us folks in the Downtown Eastside.

We need the police to be reined in. Necessary supports including safe supply, affordable housing, healthcare, harm reduction services, and culturally-safe programming can Decriminalization Of Drug Usage Among Portugal should be scaled up—but they must be made accessible without the counter-productive and illegitimate involvement of police, bylaw officers, and courts as conduits or gatekeepers.

The successes and failures of the Portugal Model offer a critical learning opportunity for the City of Vancouver as it considers decriminalization. Drhg

The answer is clear: we need a full, rather than partial, solution. After Portugal removed criminal sanctions for consuming, acquiring, and possessing small amounts of drugs for personal use inthere were demonstrable improvements to the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs, including declining rates of HIV incidence, morbidity, and mortality.

Marijuana Essay

Overall drug use did not increase. Despite positive outcomes associated with the legal regime in Portugal, accounts from people who use drugs in Portugal reveal the shortcomings and unintended harms of partial decriminalization.

Drug users report experiencing many of the same practical harms as they did under prohibition, in part because the goal of dissuading drug use remains the same, and largely because this goal is achieved through punitive, hyper-medicalized, and oftentimes non-consensual tactics such as fines, medicalized interventions, and compulsory dissuasion :. Those found to be in possession of drugs are sent to dissuasion committeesand must attend medicalised dissuasion appointments to encourage a cessation of drug use or accept a fine and it bears repeating that people who use drugs are still punished for their drug use when found to be in possession of amounts over the decriminalised threshold.

That people who use drugs continue to be mandated Decriminalization Of Drug Usage Among Portugal attend involuntary rehabilitation, even under a model of decriminalisation, continues to undermine their agency and self- determination.

Not surprisingly, poor and racialized drug users continue to experience disproportionate levels of over-policing, state-sanctioned violence, stigma, and discrimination:. They are most likely to be stopped and searched, and although they are less able to afford more drugs, their drugs are confiscated and destroyed by the police.

Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users & Pivot Legal Society Joint Statement

As with other wars on people Decriminalization Of Drug Usage Among Portugal use drugs, the Portuguese model seemingly acts as a route through which to police, harass, and disrupt the lives of the most marginalised communities of people who use drugs. We share the concerns Decriminallization people who use drugs in Portugal and urge the City to use these firsthand accounts to implement drug policy that reflects real feedback from the communities most impacted continue reading prohibition and partial decriminalization. Vancouver has an opportunity now to address not only the harms of prohibition, but also the systemic racism embedded within drug law enforcement and police interactions. Two, three years down the line this thing is still going to be following you.]