Some important lessons to be learned from Portugal about drug policy
Back in the 1990s, Portugal faced a heroin crisis. Most people knew someone affected by the lethal drug. Just two decades later, the country has one of the lowest drug-related death rates in the world. This dramatic turnaround isn’t credited to a hard-line approach, but instead by decriminalizing all drugs. What has worked so successfully and effectively in Portugal could work anywhere, including the US, if we would switch from a war mentality approach that criminalizes drug use and incarcerates drug users and dealers in cages, to a public health approach.