Here's about more proof that weed is far safer than alcohol and that allowing (and selling) it at sporting events would increase profit margins immensly while neutralizing the 1 biggest problem at sporting events: Alcohol related violence, disobedience and lewd behavior.
Police allow cannabis smoking at football match
This is a story from 2004, but since it was conveniently ignored by the American press, it bears retelling...
The Euro Soccer Tournament has a long-held international reputation for major outbreaks of violence among the fans. So police in Lisbon, Portugal decided to take a more pragmatic approach to ensure public safety at the event. The cops called a press conference, and announced that if fans showed up to the front gates drunk, they would be turned away from the game, but if the fans showed up with cannabis, not only would they not be arrested, they would not have their cannabis confiscated.
For the first time in the history of the event, there was not a single fight or arrest. Mind you, Lisbon had hundreds of arrests that night, when officers were dispatched in riot gear to quell violence in the bar districts, where people who were turned away from the gates had dispersed to watch the match. The drunks threw bottles at police, damaged property, and committed other violent assaults. But the people smoking marijuana at the event were more interested in grabbing the attention of the snack vendors than they were in throwing fists because their teams lost.
Could allowing adult marijuana use as an alternative to alcohol use at large public events actually reduce violence? Considering the precedent set in Portugal, it seems to be a question worth considering.
Funny how these stories are seldom covered in the Land of the Free, no?
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