Comparing Portugal and Oregon's drug decriminalization policies

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I am lucky to be spending time in Portugal right now. Not vacation time, but an extended “live like a local” amount of time. Lisbon, where I am based, is beautiful and I am really enjoying it. The entire country is fantastic, and as you have probably heard from others over the last few years, it is (was) a hidden gem in Europe that deserves your attention.

While Portugal is still reemerging onto the global stage (after all, through history, Portugal used to be one of the most powerful and wealthy countries), there is one thing that many people are aware of: the country’s decriminalization of recreational drug use. (Please make sure to read the disclosure statement at the end of this post, it provides important context about the following paragraphs.)

In 2001, Portugal made a bold shift in its approach to drug use by decriminalizing the possession of all drugs for personal use, a move that pivoted the nation's drug policy from a framework of criminal justice to one of public health. Drug use is not legal, rather under this groundbreaking policy, individuals found with drugs within a set amount for personal use are not criminally charged but are instead referred to Dissuasion Commissions, which assess the need for treatment, harm reduction, and social reintegration. This paradigm shift, aimed at treating drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal one, has led to significant public health, safety, and addiction improvements, setting a precedent for drug policy reform worldwide.

Nearly 20 years later, my home state of Oregon in the US passed a similar drug decriminalization law. The ballot measure that voters approved is called Measure 110, and it passed with 58% support, with nearly 400,000 more “yes” votes than “no.” This new law and the surrounding policies are said to have been inspired and modeled directly after Portugal’s.

Fast forward to 2023, and many Oregonians, including myself, believe Oregon’s Measure 110 to be a complete and total failure. Fentanyl use is rampant, as is addiction, mental health issues, and homelessness…all four being tightly related to each other.

Everything I have read over the years about Portugal’s policy and it’s impact, as well as my experience in the country as a traveler leads me to support and admire what Portugal has done. So then why don’t I support what is happening in Oregon?

I was sitting in my favorite craft beer bar in Lisbon the other day, when I overheard a group of Americans saying that they understood Portland to have decriminalized drugs, but they also understood the city to be a mess. So I chimed in. I told them that it was Oregon, not Portland, that decriminalized drug use, and as much as I love Portland, I have to admit that they are right, the city is a mess right now due to drug sales and use. They then asked my why I didn’t think decriminalization worked in Oregon.

Here is why: Oregon decriminalized, Portugal decriminalized and then invested heavily in policy, programs, and infrastructure to support their people and prevent addiction as much as they can.

As far as I can tell, Oregon simply decriminalized use, made some token changes to an existing, ineffective drug dissuasion and treatment policy, and called it a day. Sure, the law includes a plan to invest more into treatment and recovery, but the thousands of addicts on our streets don’t seem to be getting access to those resources. From what I can tell, the support Oregon offers is still a loosely connected, complex network of third parties, that have not been effective to date. There is even a phone number you can call to get help! I wonder how often that gets used? (sarcasm)

It would seem that Oregon’s approach is nothing like Portugal’s! Both Oregon and Portugal continue to target and persecute the criminal sale and trafficking of drugs, but that is about where the similarities end. Putting words in the text of a law is different than doing what is needed.

Portugal has effectively said “We won’t treat you like a criminal for using drugs, but we will help you to not ruin your life, not ruin the lives of those around you, and not ruin our country.” They do this with a multi-pronged approach that is aimed at non-users, casual users, frequent users, and addicts. Oregon seems to say “We won’t treat you like a criminal. You are on your own to find the limited resources that exist to get help, if you want it.”

Portugal starts with prevention programs in schools and to the general public that uses a comprehensive approach based on data and wellbeing. Unlike many programs in the United States, the program is not focused on zero-tolerance, because that is not the human reality (abstinence-based sex education, anyone?).

If you do use drugs and get caught, you are given what is essentially the equivalent of a traffic ticket. It isn’t just a ticket that you pay, instead you are called in front of a Dissuasion Commission. This commission, which sounds a bit like a jury or a parole board, will seek to understand your situation, and then impose fines, order community service, enroll you into education programs, send you to drug treatment, put you on probation, and.or even suspend professional licenses. In other words, there are still penalties, but there is also significant social and health support.

Effective and accessible drug treatment seems to be a problem in Oregon. In Portugal, they have ensured infrastructure to make sure treatment happens. Here is another critical factor: Portugal has a social healthcare system. There are no financial barriers to treatment in Portugal. If you need it, you can get it at no cost. No arguing about who pays. No questions about insurance coverage. No financial reason not to get treated. This couldn’t be more different than in America where health insurance is typically tied to work, mental and addiction care coverage is typically different than medical care coverage, navigating programs for low-income citizens is complicated, and the entire industry is profit seeking.

I will be the first to tell you that I am no expert in healthcare, public policy, or the drug trade. I can however share my observations from Portugal.

In what is a relatively poor country by European and American standards, I see significantly fewer homeless people here than I do in Oregon. I haven’t once seen open air drug use or sales, something that I see about once per week in Portland. I’m not scared to walk down the street in a “bad” part of Lisbon at night. Drug use does not appear to be ruining lives, or the city, in any noticable way. (That said, I am an outsider, I don’t live here, and I haven’t experienced all aspects of these policies or programs, so I could be wrong).

More notable than just my observations is what the data says. Since decriminalization and policies for education, support, and treatment went into effect, Portugal has improved across a number of key metrics. The rate of drug addiction went down, and is now one of the lowest in Europe. Drug related deaths went down dramatically on a per capita basis, and is also one of the lowest in Europe. Additionally, the transmission of HIV plummeted, and is again one of the lowest in Europe. Finally, teens and adults in Portugal are some of the least likely in Europe to ever use cocaine or cannabis. It should be noted that there is evidence of some age groups having increased rates of addition and death, during different periods since decriminalization.

So was Oregon wrong to decriminalize drug use? In my opinion, Oregon was wrong to decriminalize without also investing more, and more effectively, into education, prevention, and most importantly, treatment. It is also my opinion that if you believe that Oregon, any state, or the country is doing enough to counterbalance decriminalization, or if you don’t think it is the responsibility of the government to provide these things in order to have a functioning society, you need a wakeup call. Why only fund policing without funding programs to keep people out of police trouble?

A note about the author, sources, data, and contents of this blog post.

First and foremost, I am not an expert in the topics explored here. Much of this blog post is based on my opinion, personal understandings, observations, and readings. I believe my knowledge to be accurate and reasonably complete, but that is likely not the case from an objective, outside point of view.

Additionally, I have used two different chatbots (ChatGPT 4.0 and Bard) to help educate myself on these topics, including the use of them to cross-reference each other for accuracy. Chatbots can and often are wrong. The sources used by me and these chatbots include: The Cato Institute, The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), The Obama Whitehouse, the UK’s Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Portuguese Government reports, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

It is also important to note that there is not yet comprehensive, comparable studies or reporting on effectiveness and outcomes in Oregon, as only three years has passed since decriminalization was approved by voters. Trustworthy data collection and research on a sweeping change like this often takes much longer than three years. Therefore, the parts in this blog post about Oregon are heavily based on my own opinion, observation, and limited education on the topic.

The Dumbing Down of American Democracy

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Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about a style of communication that I see from politicians and other public figures, and it is really getting to me. It’s not a just a general style of communication, it is specific to politics, government, and our free society. I'm talking about the clownish oversimplification where every issue, idea, or person is slapped with a "Democrat" or "Republican" sticker. These labels are then used to validate or invalidate ideas, actions, and people. It's as if these statement should tell us all we need to know, like the nutritional facts on a box of cereal. But life, democracy, and politics just isn't that simple.

Take Donald Trump, who seems to see the world through a red-and-blue kaleidoscope. He's been in hot water more times than a lobster at a seafood buffet, and his go-to defense? Pointing fingers at "partisan" judges, juries, prosecutors, and attorneys. Like when he was found liable for sexual abuse and immediately called the judge and jurors "partisan," telling them to be "ashamed of themselves” ¹. Or when he slammed a "Clinton appointed judge" on Truth Social for giving him what he felt was an unfair trial simply because of the President that nominated them decades earlier, with no other reason or evidence ². Most recently, Trump implied that his civil fraud trial will be unfair because he believes that the court clerk is the girlfriend of Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer ³. He's not just turning courtroom drama into political theater, he is implying that people cannot think or act outside of the box of their political party.

Elon Musk gave us another recent example himself. Chiming in on the Joe Rogan podcast, he claimed Twitter was suppressing Republican tweets 10x more than Democrats. But here's a reality check: Tweets get the boot for spewing dangerous lies, hate, or violence, not party allegiance. Let's ask the uncomfortable question—could it be that one side is tweeting significantly more stuff that crosses the line? I don't have a spreadsheet handy to prove it, but come on, the last 10 years in America shows us enough.

Musk, someone believed by many to be one of the smartest people on earth, is mixing up causation and correlation. Is this out of ignorance or, worse, a calculated move to drive a wedge right through the fabric of America?

I am nowhere close to being the smartest person on earth, and yet I clearly understand the differences between correlation and causation. The concept is a basic rule of logical thinking.

So what’s going on? I’ll tell you what I believe: Politicians and big shots like Trump and Musk are either showing the world their lack of smarts or, more sinisterly, they're deliberately playing the pied piper leading us off the cliffs of division. Because of this, America is at a wildly dangerous point in history.

Why do I say that? Well, because these people influence, millions of people listen to them. They eat up these oversimplified, misleading morsels and spit them back out. Every time they do, they chip away at the trust we've got in our system—our courts, our laws, our very democracy. America is built on this trust, the kind that lets us put power in the hands of the people, where politicians are supposed to be our servants, not sultans.

I worry about what happens when that trust goes away. Down comes the house of cards. We've seen it throughout history. Fascist regimes and dictators are elected because people believe they will be the heros that will save the system, the only people that can act without bias. Of course, they aren’t the heros, they don't hand power back to the people. They keep it, and they do whatever it takes to keep their grip tight.

We've got to stand up to this bullshit. Call it out. Tell Trump, Musk, and their ilk that we're not buying what they're selling. We're better than that. We're smarter, more logical, and too dang stubborn to let our democracy get bulldozed by a tweet or a sound bite. And when I see we, I mean all American’s, regardless of political party affiliation. I believe most of us have it inside to be smart, fair, factual, locial, and unbiased if we want to. Don’t let Trump, Musk, and others push that inherent intelligence down into hiding, let it shine.

So, the next time you're chatting about politics with someone who's parroting these divisive lines, hit them with facts, with calm-reason, with the kind of clear-eyed logic that's been the bedrock of this country. Remind them—and maybe ourselves—that we're capable of more, that we're the land of the free thinkers, not the blindly led.

If we don’t, we might just find ourselves in a history book chapter titled "How to Lose a Democracy 101." And with world tensions flaring up in Ukraine and Israel, our democracy needs to be on solid ground more than ever. We can't let it be shaken by those who'd rather see us divided for their own gain or ego. Let's keep our heads, our hearts, and our freedom intact.

Americans have become weak

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We’ve had it too good, for too long. Even with the 2008 financial crisis, we are in the midst of an incredible stretch of prosperity. Even with mass shootings, never in history have we been as safe from harm as we are today.

Life is really fucking good for many Americans.

So why rock the boat? Why risk what we have individually for the greater good? Why go out on a limb to uphold everything that this country stands for? We can let Washington D.C. fight on our behalf, we don’t want to miss brunch with our friends, followed by shopping for all the gifts we’ll give this holiday season.

In the meantime, our democracy is falling apart. We are at grave risk of losing the system that gave us the prosperity we have. If trust and sanctity are lost, we are screwed. We may never come back from it, but even if we do, it will take a generation or more.

Recently, the President of the United States of America admitted to breaking the law through the way he used a charity bearing his name for his own financial gain and personal benefit. He admitted it! And was fined $2mm by a court of law.

That would have been enough for any past president, Democrat or Republican, to be impeached AND removed from office. Not this president though. As a country, we’ve had things too good for too long, why rock the boat and worry about his actions? They didn’t harm us.

Now, we sit through a toothless impeachment process because the same President used his office, and American taxpayer dollars, to bribe a foreign government to advance his own political goals. While I am happy that Congress is seeking, and will likely approve impeachment, the process is toothless. The Senate will get the case next, and the leadership has vowed to quickly clear the President’s name, allowing him to continue doing what he has done for his entire life.

Democracy as we know it will be gone. A joke of a concept, really. If charity fraud isn’t enough, what is? If bribery with taxpayer funds isn’t enough, what is? If asking for a foreign government to hurt your political opponent isn’t enough, what is?

Democracy will be over.

So what are we doing about it? Nothing, really. We go to our holiday parties and talk about how awful things are, but our conversations are soft.. We get angry on Twitter, then turn our attention to a football game, too afraid to get angry IRL.

We are weak. We are soft. This isn’t about political parties. This is about freedom. This is about losing the democracy that changed the world, for the better.

The same country that was founded on protests, the same country that went to war to enforce our constitution, the same country that took to the streets for Civli Rights and to end the Vietnam War, that same country is doing nothing. We are writing toothless blog posts.

The people of Hong Kong are are risk of losing freedoms, and they are doing something about it. They are protesting, making noise, telling the world they won’t stand for it.

Protesters in Hong Kong. Image credit Studio Incendo.

Protesters in Hong Kong. Image credit Studio Incendo.

Iranians are facing economic hardship and potential collapse, because of the poor geopolitical decisions their government is making. So what do they do? They are protesting, making noise, telling the world they won’t stand for it without a fight.

In Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and many other Middle East & North African countries, the people stood up, said they were feed up with corrupt and oppressive governments, and they did something about it. They protested. They risked what little they had and took to the streets. Day and night. Until change happened.

Thailand, Chile, France….they fight when their government does wrong by them.

What are we doing about our corrupt government? What are we doing about our eroding democracy? How are we bypassing our polarized political parties to hold our government accountable?

When the United States Senate takes up Impeachment and decides if President Donald Trump should be removed from office, what will we do? Complain to a fellow pinot loving friend during meaningless conversation at a holiday party? Get mad on Twitter?

Or, protest? Make noise. Tell the world we have standards we are willing to fight for? At least try to save our democracy?