AFS Cinema
Junket to Portugal Instead of England
RECEIVED Mon., July 16, 2012
Dear Editor,
If our officials are going to junket [“City Officials Jet Off to England,” News, July 6], they’d be much better off going to Portugal, which decriminalized marijuana, cocaine, and heroin more than a decade ago. No, drug-related problems haven’t vanished there. Yes, the violence and cost of endless police work and incarceration associated with illegal drug sales have vanished. Judging from the articles in the July 13 edition – 12th and Chicon [“Working 'The Corner,'” and Jovita's [“Jovita's Defendant Not a Dealer, Lawyer Says” – illegal drug dealing is a much more pressing problem than Formula One planning. Of course, spending time in a dingy Portuguese drug rehab clinic isn’t nearly as much fun as attending an F1 race.
If our officials are going to junket [“City Officials Jet Off to England,” News, July 6], they’d be much better off going to Portugal, which decriminalized marijuana, cocaine, and heroin more than a decade ago. No, drug-related problems haven’t vanished there. Yes, the violence and cost of endless police work and incarceration associated with illegal drug sales have vanished. Judging from the articles in the July 13 edition – 12th and Chicon [“Working 'The Corner,'” and Jovita's [“Jovita's Defendant Not a Dealer, Lawyer Says” – illegal drug dealing is a much more pressing problem than Formula One planning. Of course, spending time in a dingy Portuguese drug rehab clinic isn’t nearly as much fun as attending an F1 race.
Philip Russell
[Editor's note: Portugal has not fully decriminalized drugs. In 2001, possession of less than 10 days supply was reduced from a criminal to an administrative offense, heard before an addiction panel similar to the drug courts in Travis County. However, drug possession, production, trafficking, and dealing are still illegal.]