Pubdate: Sat, 12 Aug 2017 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2017 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v17/n254/a01.html Author: Gary Dale Page: IN 11 REDUCING DRUG USE, DEATHS Re Rethink before decriminalizing drugs, DiManno, Aug. 7 Rosie DiManno's column is well-reasoned but wrong. This century's problems aren't due to irrationality, not that there isn't a lot of that to go around, but rather to ignoring the facts and evidence. There have been endless studies concluding that criminal sanctions have no impact on people's behaviour, yet that doesn't stop people from arguing the opposite. Nor does the fact that increasingly harsh penalties adopted in the U.S. have reduced neither drug use nor drug deaths. Conversely, the evidence from Portugal and Spain shows that decriminalizing drug use works. In Portugal, overdose deaths dropped by more than 80 per cent, while HIV infections dropped by 95 per cent since 2001, when it changed its drug laws. Much as we all like to believe that our reasoning processes are sound, unless we constantly test our beliefs against the facts and evidence, we are really just worshipping our own cleverness. Gary Dale, Toronto - --- MAP posted-by: Matt