[Red Slinger]

Portugal is a good example of a country that had a very serious drug problem and addressed it by decriminalizing all drugs. It hasn't been perfect but it's an experiment that can be a starting point in the drug policies in places like Canada.

http://time.com/longform/portugal-dr...iminalization/

But in 2001, Portugal took a radical step. It became the first country in the world to decriminalize the consumption of all drugs.

“We realized we were squandering resources,” he told Fonseca. “It made much more sense for us to treat drug addicts as patients who needed help, not as criminals.” Police could concentrate on traffickers and dealers, freeing up resources for the government to invest in treatment and harm reduction practices. A 2015 study found that since Portugal approved the new national strategy in 1999 that led to decriminalization, the per capita social cost of drug misuse decreased by 18%. And according to a report by the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit with the goal of ending America’s “War on Drugs,” the percentage of people in prison in Portugal for drug law violations has decreased dramatically, from 44% in 1999 to 24% in 2013.

“Drug addiction is something that will always exist,” Fonseca says, articulating one of the principles underlying Portugal’s attitude to drug abuse. But by eliminating the threat of criminal penalties—and along with it, a great deal of stigma—it has become easier for people to seek treatment. Between 1998 and 2011, the number of people in drug treatment increased by over 60%; nearly three-quarters of them received opioid-substitution therapy.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/201...orld-copied-it

Portugal’s policy rests on three pillars: one, that there’s no such thing as a soft or hard drug, only healthy and unhealthy relationships with drugs; two, that an individual’s unhealthy relationship with drugs often conceals frayed relationships with loved ones, with the world around them, and with themselves; and three, that the eradication of all drugs is an impossible goal.

The opioid crisis soon stabilised, and the ensuing years saw dramatic drops in problematic drug use, HIV and hepatitis infection rates, overdose deaths, drug-related crime and incarceration rates. HIV infection plummeted from an all-time high in 2000 of 104.2 new cases per million to 4.2 cases per million in 2015. The data behind these changes has been studied and cited as evidence by harm-reduction movements around the globe. It’s misleading, however, to credit these positive results entirely to a change in law.

Continuing with the "Just say No!" and "druggies are criminals" mentality have been negative factors in the current opioid epidemic in Canada and the US. The status quo is not working and we should be looking at other solutions. The Portugal example is a good starting point for discussion on what worked and what didn't.