Positive results from reforming drug policies

Many countries have created much better policies than the US for dealing with drug abuse.

Fifteen years ago, Switzerland began treating heroin users by distributing heroin to them from clinics. The outcomes: not one overdose death, new cases of AIDS and Hepatitis infections plummeted, causing Switzerland to have the lowest rates of these incidents of any country in Europe. Crime was cut by 60%, and new heroin users in Zurich decreased by 82%.

Eight years ago Portugal decriminalized all drugs and possession of up to ten days’ supply. The results: a 25 percent decline in drug use among 13 to 15 year olds; a 22 percent decline in drug use among 16 to 18 year olds; a 52 percent decline in heroin overdose deaths; a 71 percent decline in HIV infections reported by drug users, and an overall decline in the use of every drug with the exception of marijuana. However, marijuana use in the rest of the European Union increased by four to five times what it did in Portugal.