Covid restrictions tightened across Europe

COVID in Europe: Austria extends lockdown as Portugal tightens restrictions | Euronews with AP:

Map courtesy New York Times

December 1, 2021 - "COVID-19 cases are sweeping Europe once again.... Measures vary across the continent.... Here is a run-down of the latest situation in some of the European countries.

• "Austria's lockdown has officially been extended until December 11.... Essential shops that were allowed to open until 9 pm, however, will have to close by 7 pm starting on ... December 2.... Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg has also said that vaccination will become compulsory from February 1. Authorities in Austria said on November 17 that travellers would need to show a negative PCR test upon entering the country.
• "Portugal reintroduced tighter pandemic restrictions on Wednesday.... Face masks have once again become mandatory and the country tightened control of its borders. A digital certificate proving vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 is required to access restaurants, cinemas and hotels.... 
• "Belgium has closed nightclubs and requires people to work from home as part of an effort to curb COVID-19 cases. The government issued new measures on Friday (November 26) including shutting bars and restaurants from 11 pm. Events held indoors must be seated and private meetings, besides weddings and funerals, are banned.... 
• "Netherlands ... restrictions entered into force over the weekend includ[e] the closure of all non-essential shops including bars and restaurants from 17:00 to 05:00.... Hospitality and cultural venues have to ensure people are seated 1.5m apart.... Amateurs sporting events are also not permitted between 17:00 and 05:00 with professional sports events allowed to proceed but with no spectator.
• "A 30-day state of emergency came into effect on Friday (November 26) as the Czech Republic sees record-high COVID-19 cases.... Christmas markets across the country are banned and people will not be allowed to drink alcohol in public places.... Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, discotheques and casinos have to close at 10 p.m. The number of people at culture and sports events will be limited to 1,000 who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 All other public gatherings can be attended by up to 100 visitors, down from 1,000.
• "Slovakia declared a 90-day state of emergency and a two-week lockdown.... The ... measures ... include closing all non-essential stores, as well as bars and restaurants....
• [In] France ... From 15 January, all adults will need a booster jab at least seven months after being fully vaccinated in order to keep their health passes. From mid-December, people over the age of 65 will need one to have their health passes extended....
• "The Italian government on Wednesday (November 24) decided to exclude unvaccinated people from certain leisure activities.... Starting December 6, only people with proof of vaccination or of having recovered from COVID-19 can eat at indoor restaurants, go to the movies or attend sporting events. Having just a negative test result is no longer acceptable.... A new government decree also made vaccinations mandatory for law enforcement, military, and all school employees, among others.... Twenty towns in Italy's South Tyrol province face harsher COVID-19 restrictions from Wednesday (November 24) with an 8 pm curfew.... On public transport, passengers must wear an FFP2 mask or equivalent....
• "Sweden ... has announced that from December 1 a health pass will be required to attend any event of more than 100 people. The COVID pass — attesting that the holder has either been fully vaccinated, tested negative over the previous 72 hours or recovered from the disease over the preceding six months — has so far only been used in Sweden for travel purposes....
• "New COVID-19 restrictions came into force in Ireland on Thursday (November 18).... People were told to work from home unless attending the workplace is 'absolutely necessary'. A requirement for COVID-19 passes (based on vaccination or recovery) is extended to cinemas and theatres, while closing times for all on-licensed premises, including in hotels, will move to midnight.
• "[In] Ukraine From December 9, unvaccinated civil servants and social workers will be fired, the government said.... 
• [In] Latvia From 15 December, people must present a COVID-19 vaccination or recovery certificate in order to show up to work.
• "On November 12, Denmark reintroduced its digital pass.... For the next month, a valid pass is mandatory in order to enter nightclubs or cafes or to be seated indoors in restaurants." [stress added]

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/2021/12/01/covid-19-spike-felt-across-europe-as-vaccination-remains-stagnant

Portugal's gov't shuts down remote learning

Portugal's Socialist PM BANS private schools from teaching pupils on Zoom during two-week Covid classroom closure – so state-educated students don't fall behind | Mail Online - Chris Jewers:

January 26, 2021 - "Portugal's socialist Prime Minister has banned private schools from teaching pupils remotely during a two-week classroom closure. The minority Socialist-led government of Antonio Costa said that allowing private institutions to teach remotely would put state school pupils at a disadvantage. The Portuguese government ordered all schools closed for two weeks last Thursday to slow contagion rates as hospitals faced record numbers of Covid-19 patients.  

"The performance of state schools was patchy during Portugal's first lockdown, with many schools coming under fire for poor provision of online schooling.

"Portugal's ban on private schools teaching remotely also includes international schools, meaning British children living in the country doing GCSEs, A Levels or the International Baccalaureate cannot by law be taught for the next two weeks. Learning time lost during the imposed holiday, and any additional time lost from the school closure, would be compensated at a later data in the school year, the government said.

"'Banning digital classes in private education is a totalitarian and Marxist-style measure,' Rui Rio, the leader of the centre-right opposition party said. '[The measure] has nothing to do with the public interest or with the defence of public health. It is the left at its worst.' A petition against the ban set up by a Portuguese parent has already gathered over 13,000 signatures, The Times reported. The Association of Private Schools in Portugal said the measure preventing students from learning was unconstitutional.  

"Parents from Portugal's estimated 50,000 British community expressed their outrage at the ban to the newspaper, with one mother saying how her daughter had been turned away by police when she went to take an exam at her school.... 

Sarah Hosford, an interior designed with two daughters who are set to take their GCSEs and International Baccalaureate, said that their school had set up a 'brilliant online system,' and that they were shocked about the ban. 'We are followed a completely different education system to the Portuguese one,' she told The Times. 'The idea of disadvantaging everybody as a solution for the few kids who haven't got computers is crazy. Keeping up education is of paramount importance,' she said."

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9190861/Portugals-Socialist-PM-BANS-private-schools-teaching-pupils-remotely-classroom-closure.html

Governments imposing a 2nd wave of lockdowns

Localized lockdowns show that we're in the most complex phase of coronavirus yet | CNN - Emma Reynolds:

July 9, 2020 - "From English cities to the Spanish seaside and Australian housing estates, local lockdowns are cropping up all over the world as countries ease restrictions only to encounter new coronavirus outbreaks.... Beijing re-entered a partial lockdown in mid-June after a new coronavirus outbreak linked to a food market in the Chinese capital, while at least 24 states in the US are pausing or rolling back their reopenings as cases accelerate....

"The threshold for imposing new lockdowns as well as their size and scope varies dramatically between countries, from a single building in Italy, to several Rwandan villages, to a community of 200,000 in Spain's northeast and a coastal area of 70,000 in its northwest, to the whole of Israel. There are hopes this approach could minimize the economic damage resulting from large-scale shutdowns. In Portugal, for example, 19 boroughs on the outskirts of Lisbon have shut down, while the capital's downtown area has continued its reopening, along with the rest of the country.

"The German city of Guetersloh was put back into lockdown after 1,331 workers at its Toennies meat processing factory tested positive for the virus.... Guetersloh's lockdown was lifted Monday when a court in the state of North Rhine-Westfalia ruled that the regulation was 'no longer compatible with the principle of proportionality and the principle of equal treatment'....

"In the Italian city of Mondragone, authorities sealed off a building that housed migrant seasonal workers as a 'red zone' late last month after 49 people tested positive for Covid-19. The army was sent to monitor the hotspot and a group of workers living in the building broke the quarantine to protest.... And in Serbia, police in the capital Belgrade on Tuesday fired tear gas at protesters demonstrating against the President Aleksandar Vucic after he announced a weekend-long curfew to try to combat a surge in cases....

"The English city of Leicester returned to lockdown for two weeks from July 2, with non-essential businesses shutting, people advised to minimize social contact, and schools closed for most children, after a spike in cases there. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that Leicester showed 'the virus is out there still circling like a shark in the water,' raising fears of further lockdowns in other UK areas with rising numbers of new cases....

"In the Australian state of Victoria, 6.6 million people have been isolated from the rest of the country for six weeks after Melbourne saw a record rise in daily case numbers. On Saturday, 3,000 residents of nine densely populated public housing estates were put under full lockdown and from Wednesday, residents in metropolitan Melbourne are no longer allowed to leave their homes, except for grocery shopping, caregiving, exercise or work. Victoria's border with New South Wales will close for the first time since the pandemic began....

"Israel has re-imposed strict limitations across the whole country, closing event halls, bars, gyms and pools after the country hit a record daily figure of 1,140 new infections. It is facing a near 40-fold increase in daily cases from mid-May, when the nation appeared to have the virus under control....

"[Alexander] Kekulé, the virology professor [of the Institute for Biosecurity Research in Germany], believes that large-scale reopening and then locking down again is a mistake, and risks causing psychological or economic damage to those affected. 'We need a reliable picture of our future [f]or the economy,' he told CNN. 'You cannot plan when you have the possibilities of lockdowns at any time. People will not do that several times, again and again.... In the United States, [and] also in Brazil, we have the situation that the people are beginning to fight against lockdowns and I understand why they are doing that,' he said. 'Instead of braking and accelerating, we needed a completely different concept.'"

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/09/health/local-lockdowns-leicester-melbourne-gutersloh-intl/index.html

Commons health committee: Decriminalize drugs

Key Canadian House Committee Recommends Decriminalizing All Drugs | Marijuana Moment - Kyle Jaeger:

June 14, 2019 - "A House of Commons committee in Canada is calling for the government to decriminalize the simple possession of all drugs in an effort to address addiction as a public health issue. In a report released this week, the Standing Committee on Health described what its members learned on a tour across the country to examine the impacts of rising rates of methamphetamine addiction....

"The panel recommended that the government “'work with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities and law enforcement agencies to decriminalize the simple possession of small quantities of illicit substances.' Further, it advised the government to 'undertake an evaluation of Portugal’s approach to the decriminalization of simple possession of illicit substances and examine how it could be positively applied to Canada.'

"Conservative members of the committee disagreed with several recommendations, the report stated, including the expansion of safe injection sites where people can use illicit substances in a medically supervised environment. However, the opposition party did not outright oppose decriminalization; instead, its members argued that such a policy must have 'the fulsome measures taken in countries like Portugal.'

"Witnesses told the panel that those measures include 'a scaling up of treatment programs and the creation of diversions programs for offenders who commit crimes related to their substance use disorders,' the document notes.

"The report also details how committee members encountered a pervasive negative attitude toward people with addiction, including from health professionals. Removing criminal penalties associated with drug use would be one step toward destigmatizing the health conditions, they argued.

"Members of the country’s ruling Liberal Party passed a non-binding resolution in support of decriminalization in April. But while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on marijuana legalization, he shut the idea of broader drug decriminalization down, stating that 'on that particular issue, as I’ve said, it’s not part of our plans.' Nevertheless, some lawmakers from his party have expressed interest in reviving efforts to pursue decriminalization through legislation....

"Meanwhile, 20 U.S. prosecutors from major cities ... embarked on a trip to Portugal [in May] to see the impact of the country’s decriminalization policy firsthand."

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/key-canadian-house-committee-recommends-decriminalizing-all-drugs/

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UN organizations call for drug decriminalization

UN Organizations Unite In Call for International Drug Decriminalization | Marijuana Moment - Kyle Jaeger:

March 12, 2019 - "One of the most influential associations within the United Nations (UN) has endorsed the decriminalization of drug possession and use in a policy statement.

"The UN Chief Executives Board (CEB), which represents 31 UN agencies including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), adopted a position stipulating that member states should pursue science-based, health-oriented drug policies—namely decriminalization. Transform, a UK-based drug reform advocacy group, first reported this week on the policy statement, which was quietly released in January.

"The significance of the decriminalization endorsement is hard to overstate. Not only does it represent a substantial evolution on the part of certain UN agencies like the UNODC, which has historically supported the enforcement of punitive drug laws, but it also comes ahead of a major international meeting that will shape future UN drug policy.

"The UN CEB said the agencies ... will 'promote alternatives to conviction and punishment in appropriate cases, including the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use'....
Other policies the organization is embracing include investing in harm reduction programs, calling for universal health care coverage for substance use disorders, addressing prison overcrowding and eliminating the stigma and discrimination associated with drug use....

"As Transform explained, there have been a number of endorsements for decriminalization among certain UN agencies in recent years. The World Health Organization (WHO), The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women and UN Development Program have each embraced the policy, as has former UN Secretary General ban Ki Moon and the current secretary general, António Guterres.

"Guterres, as Portugal’s prime minister, oversaw the passage of a national law to decriminalize drugs, a policy he touted in a speech to UNCND last year.

"But the unanimous adoption of a pro-decriminalization stance by the UN CEB ... sends an unambiguous message to member states that they should treat drug use as a public health, rather than criminal justice, issue."

Read more: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/un-organizations-unite-in-call-for-international-drug-decriminalization/
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Australian state MP wants drugs decriminalized

'Libertarian' MP calls for drug possession to be decriminalised - Adam Carey, The Age:

February 5, 2019 - "A new Victorian MP has used his first speech to call for drug possession to be decriminalised, arguing billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money is being wasted on failed policies of prohibition.

"Liberal Democrats upper house MP David Limbrick also paid tribute to his federal counterpart Senator David Leyonhjelm, who is being sued for defamation by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young for alleged 'slut-shaming' comments.

"A self-described libertarian, Mr Limbrick vowed he 'would never vote for a reduction in freedom or an increase in taxes'.

"One of two Liberal Democrats elected to the upper house in November, he received just 0.84 per cent of the vote in the south-east metro district but ... is one of 11 upper house crossbenchers the Andrews government will have to negotiate with to pass legislation.

"Limbrick said the 'war on drugs' had failed as badly as the US prohibition on alcohol in the 1920s. 'As a parent, I have had enough of hearing about young people dying from adulterated substances produced in backyard labs,' he said in Parliament....

"Limbrick said Victoria should follow the example of Portugal, where the possession of drugs was decriminalised in 2001. 'For a country that was once considered the heroin capital of Europe, drug-related HIV infections have fallen by 95 per cent and the drug mortality rate is now the lowest in Western Europe,' he said.

"The number of people charged for drug use and possession in Victoria has more than doubled in the past seven years..... 24,584 people were charged with drug possession last year, with cannabis possession the most common charge....

"Limbrick and northern Victorian MP Tim Quilty are the first Liberal Democrats to be voted into the Victorian Parliament."

Read more: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/libertarian-mp-calls-for-drug-possession-to-be-decriminalised-20190205-p50vtc.html
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BC drug minister open to decriminalizing heroin

PM says no to decriminalizing drugs, B.C. addictions minister open to idea | Toronto Star - Camille Bains, Canadian Press:

September 7, 2017 - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has closed the door on decriminalizing illicit drugs to combat a national overdose crisis but British Columbia’s addictions minister says unprecedented deaths are a 'wake-up call' to reconsider that stance.

"Trudeau said decriminalization is not the approach Canada will take to deal with deadly overdoses often involving the opioid fentanyl.

"'We are making headway on this and indeed the crisis continues and indeed spreads across the country but we are not looking at legalizing any other drugs than marijuana for the time being,' Trudeau told a news conference Thursday at the end of a caucus meeting in Kelowna, B.C....

"Judy Darcy, British Columbia’s minister of mental health and addictions, said criminalizing people for having limited amounts of drugs for their own use instead of providing treatment puts them at risk of fatally overdosing.

"'I think we need to have this conversation in this country,' she said of decriminalizing small amounts of drugs such as heroin. 'Sometimes governments need to be pushed.'

"Darcy said decriminalization would go a long way in destigmatizing substance use because shame often bars people from getting treatment or even using supervised consumption sites.... 'If this overdose crisis is not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is,' she said. 'Not treating addiction the way we would any other chronic condition clearly is not working'....

"The BC Coroners Service said 876 people died in the province between January and July, up from 483 fatalities during the same months last year.

"Darcy, who spoke about the epidemic Thursday at a drug-conference headlined by an addictions expert from Portugal, said that country’s experience of decriminalizing limited amounts of some drugs in 2001, along with providing more treatment and programs that address stigma, should serve as a lesson for Canada."

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/09/07/pm-says-no-to-decriminalizing-drugs-bc-addictions-minister-open-to-idea.html
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How Portugal deals with drugs

Portugal’s Example: What Happened After It Decriminalized All Drugs, From Weed to Heroin | VICE News - Samuel Oakford:

April 19, 2016 - "16 years ago, Portugal took a leap and decriminalized the possession of all drugs — everything from marijuana to heroin. By most measures, the move has paid off.

"Today, Portuguese authorities don't arrest anyone found holding what's considered less than a 10-day supply of an illicit drug — a gram of heroin, ecstasy, or amphetamine, two grams of cocaine, or 25 grams of cannabis. Instead, drug offenders receive a citation and are ordered to appear before so-called 'dissuasion panels' made up of legal, social, and psychological experts. Most cases are simply suspended. Individuals who repeatedly come before the panels may be prescribed treatment, ranging from motivational counseling to opiate substitution therapy.

"'We had a lot of criticism at first," recalled [João] Goulão, a physician specializing in addiction treatment whose work led Portugal to reform its drug laws in 2000, and who is today its national drug coordinator.... 'Now things have changed completely,' he went on. 'We are pointed to as an example of best practices'....

 "The rate of new HIV infections in Portugal has fallen precipitously since 2001, the year its law took effect, declining from 1,016 cases to only 56 in 2012. Overdose deaths decreased from 80 the year that decriminalization was enacted to only 16 in 2012. In the US, by comparison, more than 14,000 people died in 2014 from prescription opioid overdoses alone. Portugal's current drug-induced death rate, three per million residents, is more than five times lower than the European Union's average of 17.3, according to EU figures.

"When Portugal decided to decriminalize in 2000, many skeptics assumed that the number of users would skyrocket. That did not happen. With some exceptions, including a marginal increase among adolescents, drug use has fallen over the past 15 years.... Portuguese officials estimate that by the late 1990s roughly one percent of Portugal's population, around 100,000 people, were heroin users. Today, 'we estimate that we have 50,000, most of them under substitution treatment,' said Goulão....

"Drugs are still illegal in Portugal, drug dealers and traffickers are still sent to jail, and the country has carefully kept itself within the confines of the UN's drug convention system that inform national drug laws....

"Though heroin use is often highlighted to show the efficacy of Portugal's model, today most users that come before panels are in fact caught with either hashish or cannabis, said Nuno Capaz, a sociologist who serves on Lisbon's dissuasion panel. Between 80 to 85 percent of all people who report to the panels are first-time offenders and deemed to be recreational users, meaning their cases are suspended. For those who have been repeatedly caught or are identified as addicts, the panels can order sanctions or treatment. Recreational users may face fines or be ordered to provide community service....

"Goulão cautioned that countries had to consider their own domestic environments first ... 'but in my view ...'to have it out of the penal system is a clear improvement. It was really important for our society because it allowed us to drop the stigma.'"

Read more: http://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.ca/2017/05/how-portugal-solved-countrys-drug.html
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Cannabis reform creeps forward in Europe

Marijuana Legalization In Europe: Is France Next? - Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes:

January 6, 2017 - "European legislation echoes international law barring consumption of narcotic drugs, although countries can choose whether or not to sanction its use. That detail has given rise to rather peculiar ways to dance around the law, or between the two alternatives.

"Decriminalization means that the use or possession of cannabis is not a criminal offence but the production and commercialization continue to be outlawed, as in the Netherlands. 

"Legalization puts marijuana at the same level as tobacco. It lifts the ban on the use, production and distribution. The state replaces the clandestine market, regulating both demand by excluding certain consumers, such as minors. as well as the commercialization through authorized controlled “pharmacies” or other venues.

 "None of the European Union members has completely legalized marijuana. Spain, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands, among others, have twisted their laws to tolerate and frame the use and sale of small amounts through special dispensaries, recreational stores (coffee shops) and clubs.

"It has also been 'sort of' decriminalized or 'semi legalized' in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Croatia, and Slovenia, where the fines are lighter, possession of personal amounts are accepted and legislation carves the difference between 'light' and 'hard' drugs. The Czech Republic, for example, passed a law in 2010 decriminalizing possession of narcotic drugs in small quantities.....

"Germany has a 'special' regime of tolerance that makes the country one of the most lax, despite the fact that possession is still forbidden. It is expected that this year the country will approve licenses to sell cannabis for therapeutic purposes.

"In 2001, Portugal became the first E.U. member to decriminalize personal use of marijuana, although cultivation is still criminal even if the crop is intended for personal use. Sale, too, remains illegal.

"Analyses of the Portuguese law are positive: Consumption of drugs has slightly increased among adults and markedly decreased among young people.

"In Italy, which some predict will become the next European country and the second in the world after Uruguay to legalize cannabis, possession is prohibited but not for personal use and in small quantities.

"In Spain, cultivating cannabis on private property for personal consumption by adults in a private space is legal. 'Cannabis social clubs' that organize those activities number in the hundreds - more than 300 in Barcelona alone. At the same time, and as contradictory as elsewhere, cannabis sales are still illegal.

"France and the rest of the E.U. consider the use of drugs, including cannabis, a criminal offense and its possession is always a crime, even if it doesn't always lead to prison. Cyprus, meanwhile, is the strictest: Possession can be punished by up to eight years in jail."

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2017/01/06/marijuana-legalization-in-europe-is-france-next/
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Meet Portugal’s libertarian secretary of tourism

Adolfo Mesquita Nunes: Portugal’s Libertarian Tourism Ambassador | Rising Stars | OZY - Laura Secorun Paley, Ozy.com:

August 26, 2014 - "'A free spirit.' That’s what people call Adolfo Mesquita Nunes.... Mesquita is the country’s eccentric secretary of state for tourism, and his unique style and apparent success are making him a political darling among the right-wing ranks of the People’s Party (CDS-PP), part of Portugal’s ruling coalition. He’s also an enfant terrible: a supporter of not just economic liberty, but social liberty, including gay rights and abortion rights.

"'Freedom is the most important political value for me. It comes before anything else,' he says. 'So when somebody comes to me, my first question is never, "How can I help?" but "What can I do to let the market do what it wants?"'

"Since Mesquita got the job nearly two years ago, Portugal’s tourism industry has taken off, though it’s hard to say how much is his doing. Last year, tourist arrivals hit a record — over 14 million, more than Portugal’s 10 million people — and the first half of 2014 is up 12 percent over 2013. In this economically depressed country with 15.2 percent unemployment, tourism generated 20 percent of new jobs last year....

"He dropped almost all traditional tourism campaigns, such as expensive institutional ads on public transport, sponsored sports events and TV commercials. Instead, he’s gone for online advertisements, social media presence and intense media PR campaigns that helped land Portugal on the cover of National Geographic’s Traveler magazine....

"He’s also cut red tape, reduced taxes and made it easier to set up businesses such as walking tours and food stands. Before, these companies needed to have several types of insurance and costly licenses. Now operating fees are down by 80 percent and the process requires just a single form sent to the Tourism Office for a registry number. Tour guides no longer need certification.

"'Often, whatever you let the state rule, the state will ruin,' says Mesquita, 'so instead of doing a plan to "promote" those businesses, we got out of their way and now there are twice as many as there were a couple years ago'....

"Mesquita traces his 'love of freedom' back 20 years to his grandfather’s library.... Browsing through the shelves at age 14, a title caught his eye: Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman, in which the couple argue that capitalism and the free market are the solution to all economic problems. 'I got it. It all made so much sense to me after reading it,' he recalls. 'Ever since, I’ve been wanting to fight for my freedom to do what I want and let others to do the same.'"

Read more: http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars-and-provocateurs/adolfo-mesquita-nunes-portugals-libertarian-tourism-ambassador/33467.article
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Portugal's drug decriminalization shows positive results

5 Years After: Portugal's Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results: Scientific American:

April 7, 2009 - "In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem — it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs....

"Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank."

Under the Portuguese plan, penalties for people caught dealing and trafficking drugs are unchanged; dealers are still jailed and subjected to fines depending on the crime. But people caught using or possessing small amounts—defined as the amount needed for 10 days of personal use—are brought before what's known as a "Dissuasion Commission," an administrative body created by the 2001 law.

Each three-person commission includes at least one lawyer or judge and one health care or social services worker. The panel has the option of recommending treatment, a small fine, or no sanction.

Read more: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization
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