A Solution to the Opioid Crises and Other Drug Problems

 A friend of mine recently posted a story about Portugal decriminalizing illicit drugs. (Oregon has also decriminalized illicit drugs). They both have kept penalties against drug growers, dealers and traffickers. While the story didn’t talk about Oregon, it did focus on Portugal. 

Here’s what the story said:

“WHY DON’T WE TALK ABOUT  PORTUGAL MORE?

They decriminalized all drugs. Every. Single. One. Yes, even that one. If you get caught with more than a ten day supply, you have to meet in front of a panel of a doctor, social sorker, and lawyer about addiction. They may or may not give you a fine but essentially there is no penalty.

AND IT WORKED! Addiction rates dropped. HIV rates fell. Fatal overdoses plummeted.

Portugal has shown us that when we treat drug addition as a medical/health issue instead of a moral one, it is more efficient.

Amazing what you can do when you stop treating addicts like criminals and start treatming them like human beings!”

So…maybe we’ve been looking at drug addiction in the wrong way as the media just reported over 100,000 deaths from overdoses. Legalizing the taking of illicit drugs may be the way to stop all the deaths from opioids and other drugs. In addition, someone has recently invented a strip that you can use to tell if fentanyl is cut into the drugs a person is about to take so they can avoid it.