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When Portugal decriminalized drugs, they transferred responsibility from their justice to Health Department. They also substantially increased welfare and provided a minimum guaranteed income and healthcare to all. Income taxes are a flat 20%. Social security taxes are 11% for employees and 24% for employers. VAT is 23%. Local taxes are variable. The economic situation in Portugal is dismal and unsustainable.
I think that what you can take away from Portugal's decriminalization of drugs is:
1) the black market for drugs goes away
2) over time there are fewer long time addicts and fewer new addicts.
Beats the crap out of spending 51 billion a year on law enforcement and interdiction both of which are every bit as unsuccessful as they were during prohibition.
I like the states who have made it mandatory for people to be drug tested before receiving/staying on certain benefits. I support this nationwide, personally. Welfare benefits are meant to help people get back on their feet, not support them and their lazy, illegal habits for life. It's a good system in theory but it is heavily abused, which is to be expected quite honestly, which makes it far less effective and worth it IMHO.
Yes. The argument the welfare-promoters like to argues is "but testing costs money"....yeah, so? It's more of a morality issue than it is a fiscal issue. If I go to work every day and am subject to drug testing (never have been because it's not an issue for me, but my employer has that option and has very rarely used it on individuals in the past) then why shouldn't a lazy welfare slug have to get drug tested?
I also support mandatory sterilization for any person receiving benefits for longer than a year.
I also believe anyone who owns are car valued at over $5,000 should have to sell it and buy a car under that amount. That's what responsible people would do in previous times. No car payments over $200 either, and absolutely no leasing (which is expensive) should be allowed. No more Escalade with spinner rims for you bucko.
In addition to the above I also support "tattoo checks". Yes, I do indeed think that individuals should have to strip down to be checked for tattoos (with all prior/current being documented beforehand) just like I had to be checked for gang related tattoos before joining the Army. If a welfare slug decides to acquire another tattoo with MY taxpayer money they are instantly removed from the system and barred for life.
Yes. The argument the welfare-promoters like to argues is "but testing costs money"....yeah, so? It's more of a morality issue than it is a fiscal issue. If I go to work every day and am subject to drug testing (never have been because it's not an issue for me, but my employer has that option and has very rarely used it on individuals in the past) then why shouldn't a lazy welfare slug have to get drug tested? I also support mandatory sterilization for any person receiving benefits for longer than a year.I also believe anyone who owns are car valued at over $5,000 should have to sell it and buy a car under that amount. That's what responsible people would do in previous times. No car payments over $200 either, and absolutely no leasing (which is expensive) should be allowed. No more Escalade with spinner rims for you bucko. In addition to the above I also support "tattoo checks". Yes, I do indeed think that individuals should have to strip down to be checked for tattoos (with all prior/current being documented beforehand) just like I had to be checked for gang related tattoos before joining the Army. If a welfare slug decides to acquire another tattoo with MY taxpayer money they are instantly removed from the system and barred for life.
Also, like it or not people on welfare have the same rights as you and I. You can not involuntarily sterilize them, and drug testing without reasonable suspicion that an individual is using drugs, that has already been held unconstitutional in some states.
I tried to paste link above, but this sad story is a frank illustration of how welfare benefits are abused. Woman has spent her entire life on benefits. She has never been gainfully employed. Sec 8 pays her rent, even after her kids have been removed. Her alcoholic baby daddy lives with her illegally. She receives cash for her "disability" of addiction, which she of course uses to buy drugs. She converts food stamps into money for drugs. She illegally rents out rooms in her sec 8 apt to dealers, in exchange for drugs. She refuses inpt drug rehab, out of fear of losing her sec 8 voucher. Even though she has lost custody of all her many previous children, she has not gotten sterilized, and dcf lets her keep and neglect yet another two. It took dcf 4 or 5 years to finally remove these last two kids. Can you imagine at what risk of molestation they were put when mother sublet rooms to her dealers? And of course dcf is working on family reunification for this mother and her neglected children.
Ugh ugh and more ugh. I can relate to your resentment towards such a broken, mooch-enabling system. I live and work in Philadelphia, a total welfare queen city. We have one of the highest city wage taxes in the country...it is even higher than our state tax. I know of so many white trash welfare mooches. I've found that most welfare mooches don't just mooch off the system, but they also tend to mooch, steal, and/or manipulate from their so-called "friends" too. Or milk a decades-old injury so that they can get percocets for free from their Medicaid, which they then in turn sell on the street for a big profit...as was the case with one dude I used to know. Ugh! See, this is why I'm an ultraconservative Libertarian.
No one gets into a drug like heroin with the intention of becoming addicted. Most believe they can control it long after the drug controls them. Heroin addiction crosses economic, racial, ethnic and religious lines. Heroin rewires the brain- a brain disease.
The consequences of addiction are prison or death. And it's not enough to dissuade teens and young adults from trying it.
I used to work with a man who told me he tried heroin as a teen. He knew if he used it again he would have become a raging addict. He said he dreamt of the euphorbia , 30 some years later. When something goes wrong in his everyday life, the heroin monkey on his back reminds him how easy it is to make it all better.
One time use and this reasonably successful middle class guy continued to be haunted by the monkey. Blew me away.
Oh please. Everyone knows how addictive heroin is. Thinking they're invincible doesn't mean they don't know. It just means they're still making a stupid decision regardless. I know a couple heroin addicts. Both are white and from decent, middle class families, so I know that anyone can be a heroin addict. It truly can and does affect everyone. One of the two, I believe, got addicted from prescriptions first, and continued with heroin. But even with prescription pills like oxy, I am wary. I don't know who doesn't know how addictive they are, and for that reason I am very reluctant to ever take them. So it's always down to choice, sorry, but I believe it is.
I've known for years that all it takes is one time for heroin to become addictive. I learned this in DARE at school (do they even still do DARE? It seriously worked for me, in part). It's serious s*it and I doubt there are many people out there who DON'T know this. But they make the choice anyway. Most of the time IMO it is a choice they make.
Now, I do have compassion for them. It may not seem like it, but I do. But at the same time, let's not pretend people don't know the risks and what they could be potentially getting into. Thinking you're too good to get addicted but knowing the possibility is there is just stupidity and immaturity, nothing else IMO. And that is crazy about your friend. 30 years later, and after just one try? Damn. The hold on you that heroin has is unreal. But again - this is a well known fact. I am glad your friend has managed to stay away, and only did it once. That is some strength and willpower right there. Good for him.
Most of our welfare benefit programs are designed to be temporary. They have lifetime maximum $ limits or time limits (ie: SNAP).
What we have here, is cheating. Other than Section 8 I didn't see much about the benefits she gets. I did see that she gets food from Salvation Army - a private charity. Other than that she seems to make money under the table. She's on oxygen which I imagine is paid for with medicaid. She was in some kind of out-patient rehab that didn't work. Her social worker wanted to put into in-patient intensive rehab that she refuses.
The state has taken her kids from her and put them in foster care.
It seems like a tragic story to me. Most of us, put into her situation growing up, would not be much better.
Daughter of a drug addict and an alcoholic. No one ever taught her the Calvinist protestant work ethic that everyone on this board is so in love with. She learned from the start that the next fix is all that matters. Everyone who should have helped her in life, mostly her parents but also the state, has failed her. She needs help and our patchwork of social services doesn't work for her. She needs assurance that she'll have a place to live when she gets out of the resident rehab - but she doesn't. It would do her no good to get discharged from rehab onto the street - she'd relapse in hours. So she has to choose - a program that may help her addiction and house her but only for a few months, or a voucher that keeps a roof over her head for a year.
Given her background, would she be any better off without section 8? Probably not. She'd be living in slums paying for her keep through a combination of drug dealing and prostitution. I don't see how society would be any better off
She's also bi-polar, meaning without expensive meds and therapy there is no way she can focus enough to hold a normal job or go to school.
Last edited by redguard57; 12-29-2015 at 11:06 PM..
I think that what you can take away from Portugal's decriminalization of drugs is:
1) the black market for drugs goes away
2) over time there are fewer long time addicts and fewer new addicts.
Beats the crap out of spending 51 billion a year on law enforcement and interdiction both of which are every bit as unsuccessful as they were during prohibition.
The black market is alive and well in Portugal. Decriminalization eliminated civil consequences for possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use. What it has done is changed addict behavior not to carry more than the limit.
Those caught are offered opportunity for treatment. The addict is free to decline. Portugal is into Mophine and Methadone Maintenance treatment for heroin addiction with the long term goal ( as in years- decades). Both Morphine and Methadone are opiates/ opioids. Portugal does not include the population in this treatment in their stats. Portugal arranges home delivery. Those in these programs are not often productive members of society. They live off the government. What is has done is reduced crime to fund raise for the daily grind.
The woman in this story has been in Methadone Treatment Program and continuously sought to increase her dosage to achieve a desired state and avoid withdrawal. She was also prescribed anti anxiety medications she likely abused.
Portugal is a small country with a population equivelent of Georgia. The culture is substantially different than the US and not nearly as diverse. Their approach is not necessarily scalable.
In contrast, Switzerland and the U.K. fund Heroin Clinics for long time ( 15 or more years) whereby a daily or twice daily dose is administered by healthcare professionals. Reportedly, this approach has increased the quality of life for long term addicts and may have reduced crime in some areas. This approach may have an impact on the black market.
Shop lifting and B&E are common crimes in the US performed by heroin addicts that land them in prison. Most are afforded opportunities for treatment and education while in prison. Once released, most fall back to old habits. Rince and repeat.
Maybe, just maybe, if this woman had been permanently removed from her mother's home at birth, she may have had a better chance. Then again, she may have bounced around the system and temporary foster care for 18 years with similar outcomes.
What we can all agree on is that continuing the historical War on Drugs is not working.
Also, like it or not people on welfare have the same rights as you and I. You can not involuntarily sterilize them, and drug testing without reasonable suspicion that an individual is using drugs, that has already been held unconstitutional in some states.
If you think people on welfare are doing so well buying 'spinners' and tattoos, why don't you quit your job and check it out for yourself?
Some work the system. They have other sources of undeclared income.
The woman in this article is on disability for mental illness and had 2 minor children in her care. This qualified her for other benefits. Given the children were removed from the home, she likely no longer qualifies for the value of her previous benefits.
Putting aside her 35+/- years of heroin addiction, the thing that has me scratching my head is that her mental illness prevented her from working and thus made her eligible for SDI. How is it possible that she was deemed capable of raising 2 young children despite a permanent mental disability?
I'm for sterilization. If you cannot take care of one kid, why the he!! should you have another one.
I know what you mean.
Not likely federal and state constitutions will be amended to take away the right of reproduction no matter who is president/ governor who which party holds the majority.
I am quite fond of private foundations that rely on donations to pay male and female drug addicts to become sterilized.
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It seriously worked for me, in part). It's serious s*it and I doubt there are many people out there who DON'T know this. But they make the choice anyway. Most of the time IMO it is a choice they make. 
