In the process of researching the U.S.demand for drugs that fuels the Mexican drug cartels I began to wonder how the legalization of marijuana would effect this demand. Though Prop 19 was denied in 2010, I beleive that the decrimialization of drugs in the United States would not only circumscribe the power of the Mexican cartels, but also of all illegal drug trading here in the U.S., which has proven to be extremely dangerous, especially among teenagers. Henry brought to my attention and example of drug "decriminalization" that was enacted in Portugal in 2001 for all drugs. In Glen Greenwald's "Drug Decriminaliztaion in Portugal. Lessons for Creating Fair and Succesful Drug Policies" he explore the effect this change had on Portugal and claims that it in fact, had no adverse effects on Portugal's drug usage, which now happens to be one of the lowest in the Europen Union. He claims, "Although postdecriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug-related pathologies—such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage—have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens—enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization." His study outlines the framework of this decriminalization and studys drug trends before and after its initation and compare the results to other EU states. I am curious as to how this could possibly relate to the drug situation in Mexcio, and here in the United States, and plan to use this as a resource in my term paper.