Research
Portugal's two-decade experiment demonstrates that decriminalization paired with sustained investment in universal healthcare, harm reduction, and social reintegration produces measurable reductions in overdose deaths, HIV transmission, and incarceration — but specialists note that post-2011 budget pressures and rising deaths complicate the static "success story" that dominates advocacy coverage. Early U.S. state data, particularly from Oregon, show that decriminalization reliably reduces arrests without clearly increasing drug use, but the critical question of overdose impact remains genuinely unresolved: methodologically rigorous studies disagree sharply on whether fentanyl market changes or the policy itself explain Oregon's overdose trends, and the program's 1% treatment hotline uptake rate represents a damning implementation failure that most national coverage has underreported. The core tension is structural — Portugal's outcomes depended on universal healthcare and coordinated social investment that the U.S. has not replicated, and whether that gap is bridgeable is an empirical and political question, not merely an ideological one.
Introduction: In 2000, the Portuguese minority socialist government decriminalized the possession and consumption of drugs. This law made Portugal unique in ...
The age-adjusted drug overdose death rate decreased between 2022 and 2024, with the largest decrease, 26.2%, occurring from 2023 to 2024, from ...
Portugal decriminalised the personal possession of all drugs in 2001. HIV infections and drug-related deaths have decreased, while the dramatic rise in use ...
In this cohort study of fatal drug overdose and the spread of fentanyl through Oregon's unregulated drug market, no association between M110 ...
Spencer used the synthetic control method and found that decriminalization was associated with a 23% increase in unintentional drug overdose ...
In 2001, Portugal decriminalised the personal possession of all drugs as part of a wider re-orientation of policy towards a health-led approach.
On this page, you can find the latest analysis of drug-induced deaths in Europe, including key data on overdose deaths, substances implicated and more.
According to a New York Times opens in new window analysis, the number of heroin users in Portugal has dropped from about 100,000 before the law ...
The most successful drug courts reduce recidivism by as much as 35 to 40 percent. Drug courts also are cost beneficial. The National Institute of Justice ...
Unintentional use of fentanyl through contamination of the drug supply is believed to be a major contributor to the surge in overdoses. In the absence of ...
The audit focused on efforts made by OHA to coordinate Measure 110 (M110) to serve families and individuals affected by substance use disorder.
In May 2021, Washington took action by passing a law that similarly removes criminal penalties for drug possession and establishes a comprehensive plan
Under Prop 47, prison and jail populations plummeted as did arrests for drug and property crimes after certain offenses were reclassified from felonies to ...
The Vermont Decriminalization Bill Will End Criminal Penalties for Low-Level Possession. · Eliminate criminal penalties for possessing or sharing personal-use ...
After British Columbia's scale-back on drug decriminalization, what are the chances other jurisdiction will be successful with their bids?
Workforce shortages compound the challenge. The U.S. faces a significant deficit of addiction treatment and mental health professionals across ...
Messages used to communicate about harm reduction are critical in garnering public support in the US for adoption of harm reduction approaches.
Psychedelic drugs are becoming accessible to Americans through a patchwork of state legislative reforms. This shift necessitates consensus on treatment ...
Compared to methadone, buprenorphine has lower retention rates but similar rates of abstinence among those retained. Higher doses of buprenorphine increase ...
More than 1.5 million drug arrests are made every year in the U.S. poor people and people of color – decriminalize drug use and possession.
Proposition 47, implemented in late 2014 to reduce felonies and imprisonments for lower-level drug and property offenses, is often blamed for ...
The analysis found no statistically significant relationship between state drug imprisonment rates and three indicators of state drug problems.
Therefore, the success/failure of clinical drug development depends on a delicate balance among clinical dose, efficacy in disease-targeted organs, and toxicity ...
Results: Support for decriminalization weakened between 2024 and 2025, as opposition rose from 41% to 47% (p = .0427). Fewer respondents believed ...
One high-quality study found that decriminalisation positively influenced criminal justice involvement: in five US states, arrests for cannabis possession ...
In this report, data on drug use and related consequences in Sweden and the Netherlands are used in order to illustrate the complexity of country comparisons.
Despite their success, Portugal's addiction programs face budget cuts and lack of political will, ICWA's Rowland Robinson reports from ...
This review aims to map existing research on non-SUD mental health outcomes associated with drug decriminalization and legalization policies.
These two studies show that drug decriminalization measures in Oregon and Washington reduced arrests and did not increase overdose deaths.
In a survey of people in BC who accessed drug checking services, 24.1% of those who received unexpected findings reported engaging in risk reduction behaviours, ...
Those who primarily used marijuana rated their agreement with cocaine decriminalization significantly higher (4.4/10), compared to those with primary alcohol ...
In 2022, 3.7% of US adults aged ≥18 years needed OUD treatment. Among these, only 25.1% received medications for OUD.
However, decriminalization has not been demonstrated to increase drug use, and has been shown to result in more people accessing treatment for ...
At a minimum, applicants to Component A1 must: Support a full-time Workforce Director
The result of these dynamics is that, among all racial and ethnic groups, non-Hispanic Blacks experienced the lowest percentage decline in felony drug arrests ...
Stigma has been identified as one of the most challenging barriers to substance use treatment in the criminal legal system (Avery, 2019; Wakeman ...
The Swiss law requires that HAT patients must have at least two years of opioid dependence before starting treatment. They must have tried and ...
Drug checking services can reduce risks by identifying adulterants in individuals' drug supplies. In the United States (U.S.), DCS are ...
Open-air drug use has been a persistent problem in San Francisco. Public ... 2025, though it is still lower compared to January 2024 and 2025. Tags.
Prison population data ; 124. based on an estimated national population of 10.90 million at beginning of May 2026 (from Eurostat figures) · 24.5%. (1.5.2026).
Policy responses to the opioid epidemic thus far have entailed a counterproductive integration of public health and law enforcement.
Mexico has long been the main source of fentanyl into the United States—nearly all of the 21,900 pounds that U.S. law enforcement seized last year was at the ...
This cohort study examines the association of decriminalization of drug possession with fatal drug overdose rates in Oregon while accounting for the rapid ...
Innovative policies and programs that target the unique needs of the homeless population have been linked to improved health, housing, and recovery outcomes.
They found that there was a 60.5% reduction in mortality amongst recently incarcerated individuals due to overdose deaths after the ...
Support of decriminalization ranged from 47% to 59% in Canada and from 49% to 66% in British Columbia in the lead up to decriminalization ...
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