The most marijuana-friendly nations

[Bullfighter]

Will Proposition 19, the proposal to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana use in California, really generate the benefits that its proponents claim? That answer is hazy for one main reason: Prop 19 would go further than any marijuana law on the books anywhere. The policy would be revolutionary in the U.S., where marijuana is legal only for medical purposes—and that in just 13 states. But not even the world's pot meccas have legalized and taxed the drug from production to consumption, as Prop 19 would allow cities in California to do. Drug-policy experts, though, disagree on whether Prop 19 takes the right approach. Do other parts of the world have a more sensible system? We've put together a slideshow of how other countries in the world handle marijuana use. The list comprises countries that allow people to use the drug without facing jail time, mandatory drug treatment, or other penalties

Watch the slideshow:

Globe Toking - Newsweek
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I just saw a piece on France24 TV that showed street gangs in "marijuana friendly" Denmark fighting for territory because of what?????? DRUGS!!

Legalizing just makes children easier targets and corrupts society even more.

 

[eots]

/why would anyone smoking pot need drug treatment or to be criminalize any more than someone drinking a beer or having a coffee ?

 

[eots]

Will Proposition 19, the proposal to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana use in California, really generate the benefits that its proponents claim? That answer is hazy for one main reason: Prop 19 would go further than any marijuana law on the books anywhere. The policy would be revolutionary in the U.S., where marijuana is legal only for medical purposes—and that in just 13 states. But not even the world's pot meccas have legalized and taxed the drug from production to consumption, as Prop 19 would allow cities in California to do. Drug-policy experts, though, disagree on whether Prop 19 takes the right approach. Do other parts of the world have a more sensible system? We've put together a slideshow of how other countries in the world handle marijuana use. The list comprises countries that allow people to use the drug without facing jail time, mandatory drug treatment, or other penalties

Watch the slideshow:

Globe Toking - Newsweek
-------------------------------------------------------

I just saw a piece on France24 TV that showed street gangs in "marijuana friendly" Denmark fighting for territory because of what?????? DRUGS!!

Legalizing just makes children easier targets and corrupts society even more.

"drugs" what kind of drug ??..and if there drugs were not prohibited why would anyone be fighting for territory ?

 

[eagleseven]

Not the US, unfortunately.

 

[JBeukema]

Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.)
Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze–filled "coffee shops," Holland has never actually legalized cannabis — the Dutch simply don't enforce their laws against the shops. The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail.
The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.
The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.
"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does."
Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
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Decriminalizing Drugs in Portugal a Success, Says Report - TIME

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[Bullfighter]

[
"drugs" what kind of drug ??..and if there drugs were not prohibited why would anyone be fighting for territory ?

The kind of drugs that must be sold by criminal gangs. They aren't selling aspirin!

 

[editec]

Wait a minute...drug mafias are fighting a war over selling a legal drug?

I rather doubt that.

 

[topspin]

those countries realize the folly of paying to stamp out what is less a worry than beer drinking.

 

[Bullfighter]

those countries realize the folly of paying to stamp out what is less a worry than beer drinking.

I never heard of Al Capone chopping off the heads of rival gang members. I never heard of him killing woman and children. But that was booze!

 

[topspin]

Tabacco companies will do the selling not Mexian cartels.

 

[Bullfighter]

Tabacco companies will do the selling not Mexian cartels.

And you'll have to take a mortgage out on your house just to buy a few grams that are taxed like cigarettes.

 

[eagleseven]

Tabacco companies will do the selling not Mexian cartels.

And you'll have to take a mortgage out on your house just to buy a few grams that are taxed like cigarettes.

I'll support Philip Morris over your Cartels any day.

 

[Zander]

I hope that prop 19 passes and I will vote in favor tomorrow, but it is currently way down in the polls. I don't think it is going to pass....

 

[Big Black Dog]

Another day, another dope talking about dope... I wish California would legalize pot just so people would fucking shut up about it.

 

[eagleseven]

I hope that prop 19 passes and I will vote in favor tomorrow, but it is currently way down in the polls. I don't think it is going to pass....

One less reason to vacation in Cali...sad.

 

[topspin]

Tabacco companies will do the selling not Mexian cartels.

And you'll have to take a mortgage out on your house just to buy a few grams that are taxed like cigarettes.

I don't smoke cigs, maybe in your projecsts people are poor enough to need to borrow to buy cigs. Not in area

 

[eagleseven]

Further, any taxes levied will cost less than the army of thugs and smugglers necessary to get marijuana to the US via cartels.

 

[The Infidel]

Pics like these do their cause no good.... why not show folks who look like regular everyday people enjoying a puff or two?

I know no one that looks like that (who smoke pot)

I mean really dude... mix in a brush!

These look like kids.... gangbangers, but kids.

 

[eots]

[
"drugs" what kind of drug ??..and if there drugs were not prohibited why would anyone be fighting for territory ?

The kind of drugs that must be sold by criminal gangs. They aren't selling aspirin!

they are not selling much weed either.. cocaine and heroin are the lucrative markets for smugglers

 

[topspin]

I think I read 80% of cartels money is from weed.
Legalize the herb and cartels shrink big time.