From the Mountaintops-2011-Portugal-proof3.indd - Global Initiative ...

the strategy so that the country could understand the approach but pushing it through decisivelynevertheless, despite opposition; creating the necessary infrastructure and making therequired financial investment to enable the policy to be put into practice; and, finally, havingthe patience to allow the years to pass so that the impact of the policy could be properlymonitored and an evidence base developed.It is vital to properly understand the drug policy phenomenon in Portugal. Decriminalizationis not treated as a magical solution. In order to reduce drug use, legal solutionsmust be supported by a comprehensive policy that helps drug consumers to reduce harm,undergo treatment, and return to life in health and in society.Governments worldwide can learn a lot from Portugal’s experience. The Global Commissionon Drug Policy’s report points to Portugal as proof that decriminalization doesnot result in significant increases in drug use or dependencies, and urges governmentsto “replace the criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs with the offerof health and treatment services to those who need them.” 48 A special issue of the Britishmedical journal The Lancet has also showcased Portugal as proof that humanitarianism andpragmatism can work in achieving a decline in HIV infections, drug consumption, andaddictions. 49Perhaps the greatest lesson of the Portuguese decriminalization policy is that itdemonstrates that there are ways to overcome the lack of will among political elites andsocieties made afraid by the fear-mongering propaganda of the “war on drugs” and, in doingso, to constructively build rational and humanitarian drug policies.48. Global Commission on Drug Policy, War on Drugs: Report of the Global Commission on DrugPolicy, June 2011.49. Joao Goulou, quoted in: Beyrer C. et al., “Time to Act: a call for comprehensive responsesto HIV in people who use drugs,” in The Lancet: HIV in people who use drugs, special issue, July2010.46 CONCLUSIONS