(November 3, 2010 at 9:56 am)Shinylight Wrote:(November 3, 2010 at 8:25 am)Skipper Wrote: @Adrian
Decriminalisation, such as what has been done in Portugal dosen't fully legalise drugs, it just takes away the punishable criminal side of possessing substances. Their decriminalisation has worked to the extent user rates have fallen and also illnesses from things such as needle sharing has also dropped. Full legalisation would mean the substances could be produced by either government or private companies at set strengths and doses and also sold via licensed premises. You still loose out on tax and still keep illegal dealers when you just decriminalise.
Decriminalisation is getting rid of punishment for the acts, the first option in the poll doesn't exclude drug taxation or supply from private or public sources.
Decriminalisation is different from full legalisation. Decriminalising drugs, as you say, does take away the punishment but is still technically illegal so you wouldn't have companies or governments producing and taxing it. For that to happen it would take legalisation.
