Drug legalization in Portugal

A thought-provoking item in the media recently:

Portugal decriminalized marijuana and most other drugs over a decade ago, with good results:
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/portugal-drug-policy-decriminalization-works-2012-7

Interestingly, the American drug courts model is not far off from the Portuguese experience. Many jurisdictions have moved to de facto decriminalize drug use without regard to whether the state is a medical marijuana state or has legalized or formally decriminalized pot. Drug courts have proven to be extremely effective ways to "enforce" treatment mechanisms with difficult populations. Those who wind up in prison are often repeat offenders who have "flunked" diversion programs or are guilty of dealing. To be fair, of course, there are still many prisoners who are simply drug addicts who should be dealt with by other means that would be more effective. Prison is a blunt instrument for a difficult problem. Other community and residential settings would get better results, protect public safety more effectively, and cost a whole lot less.

That said, I oppose legalization of marijuana or other drugs. Most importantly, we don't have an effective means to do road-side or workplace drug tests in real-time. (Some work has been done.) Those tests that do exist are qualitative yes-no tests and do not yield quantitative results of impairment. That is in contrast to the breathalyzer, which performs this service quite well every day. We have no idea of the number of drug-impaired drivers out on our roads or in workplaces. Although MADD and other citizen efforts have made a big impact on drunken driving over the last 30 years, I think their efforts would have been in vain if it weren't for the breathalyzer. When pot legalization advocates are on the front line demanding the development of better drug detection technology, I will take them more seriously. Instead, you have many idiots saying that pot makes them better drivers because they are "more mellow." Good research--and common sense--suggest the contrary. Without good detection technology, drug use cannot be labelled a personal choice. The rest of us will always be at risk from the idiots out there who could endanger us while they are drug-impaired. In most cities, more than half of arrestees are drunk or drug-intoxicated, so we know the problem is widespread.

I have another issue with current marijuana policy. It puts police in untenable situations. Federal and state laws now directly contradict one another in specific locations. Although the federal government under Obama appears to be backing off from enforcement in those locations, this raises serious questions about the uniformity of law and punishment. We can't condone pot use in some places and even encourage finance of marijuana sellers, then lock people up for the same activity in a neighboring state. There are differences in other areas in law and enforcement across the country, but I know of no other case in which you can serve 20 years in one state for doing something that would be legal in another. Police are the ones who must deal with this every day. They are expected to enforce the local law and deal with the contradictions, which breed cynicism in law enforcement and among criminals alike. The medical marijuana states are the worst offenders in this regard. I remember a visit to a fusion center in California that invested heavily to identify raid sites for marijuana enforcement in the same city where medical marijuana dealers could be seen out the window. These contradictions have become institutionalized in many "progressive" places in Europe, such as in Holland. I hope we do better by the police and our society going forward.