One of the architects of Portugal’s successful drug decriminalization policy
says,
“to make
demands of addicts who are enslaved by their addiction is senseless.”
Well, it makes sense to those who profit by it, such as private prison
companies.
And Georgia is now proposing

to make field slaves out of them,
for

failing a drug test.

Inês Subtil wrote for communidad segura 11 May 2009,

Portugal: Success in harm reduction:

In 1999, Portugal broke new ground by enacting legislation that
decriminalized all drug use. Ten years later, the results are there
for all to see, results of a change that João Goulão, president of
the do Instituto da Droga e Toxicodependência (The Drugs and Chemical
Addiction Institute) IDT, believes show the law has been instrumental in
solving the problem of drug abuse, and crucial for bringing legislation
into harmony with practices and people.

A family doctor, Goulão was condecorated by the president of the
Portuguese Republic, but he says he is always ready for to roll up
his sleeves and get out in the field. At 55, he is a candidate for the
Presidency of the European Drugs Observatory, but that has not clowded
his sobriety about the work at hand.

In an exclusive interview to Comunidad Segura, Goulão discusses the
workings and the structure of the institution that he presides over, that
has set a world-wide example of success. For him, drug use is closely
associated to self-esteem. “If we could restore drug addicts their
human dignity, we would be able to demand something in return. But to make
demands of addicts who are enslaved by their addiction is senseless,”
he said.

Now that makes a lot of sense.
And Portugal demonstrates that it works.

He has more sensible things to say in the interview, including this:

Why decriminalize all drugs, instead of a few?

The distinction between light and heavy drugs makes less and less sense,
and already from the 90’s it made little sense scientifically. There are
drugs with different levels of danger, but these levels are changing. The
plants have undergone genetic alterations, they have been manipulated,
and in some cases the content of the active substance has increased by 15
to 10 times, as have the psico-gênic effects that these substances cause.

That means that the distinction makes little sense. I have seen people who
are heavily addicted to so-called light drugs, and people using so-called
heavy drugs in reasonably light ways. The issue has more to do with the
relationship each person establishes with the substance than with what the
substance itself is. That is what led us to decriminalize all substances.

This is why while Washington state ending
marijuana prohibition would be a good start,
it is only a start on solving the problem of far too many people
in the prison system,

1 in 13 of the adult population in Georgia.

We can’t afford a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education.

-jsq

PS: Human security, there’s a concept!