Critics of decriminalizing drugs have pointed to rising overdose rates to argue that decriminalization doesn’t work. In fact, such policies
Portugal’s 2001 decriminalization law that saw such success crucially did more than decriminalize drug possession. It also set up robust harm reduction as well as treatment and recovery programs. Those in active addiction could get clean paraphernalia and medical supervision as well as methadone, which eases opioid withdrawals. Those caught with drugs are sent to dissuasion commissions, which determine if the user is addicted, and if so, recommend treatment programs. If the addict voluntarily chooses to attend treatment, the commission books it for them, and they can attend for free. After residential treatment programs, recovering addicts get job support from the government, including loans to start worker cooperatives. Portugal treated addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal one, and unlike the United States, it treated health care as a right. Amid an economic crisis, budget cuts and outsourcing destroyed Portugal’s world-renowned drug treatment system. In 2012, “Portugal decentralized its drug oversight operation” as “a funding drop from 76 million euros ($82.7 million) to 16 million euros ($17.4 million) forced Portugal’s main institution to outsource work previously done by the state to nonprofit groups.” At the same time, the country’s Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction was disbanded and absorbed into the National Health Service, which simultaneously had its own budget cut by 10 percent. The result: year-long waits for state-funded rehabilitation treatment, and a sharply decreasing number of people treated. Blaming government disinvestment, João Goulão — Portugal’s drug czar since 2005 and the architect of the decriminalization policy — said, “What we have today no longer serves as an example to anyone.” Speaking almost a decade ago, a dissuasion commission member said, “If the person shows up at ten o’clock in the morning, we can schedule them for one o’clock in the afternoon at the treatment facility in order for them to start the analysis.” With wait times for treatment in Portugal going from four hours before the effects of austerity kicked in to an entire year, is it any mystery that Portugal’s drug statistics have been getting worse?
